Author: StephanieBBlake

I love to help others focus on the one thing that's most important in life through my ministry, teaching and writing. As Vice President of Xtend Ministries International - www.xtendinternational.com, I travel extensively with my husband. I maintain two websites: www.onefocusministries.com and stretchmoney.wordpress.com. On the One Focus site, you can find free Bible studies, devotionals and information about my first book, "The Prayer Driven Life". My book, "Money: How to Be Rich Without It and How to Stretch It Using Ten Hints from the Past and the Technology of Today" was the inspiration for stretchmoney.wordpress.com. Money saving hints are contained throughout the book and this site was created to continue to give helpful hints on stretching money or having the proper view toward money.
One Focus Blog

The Goseck Circle, Sundials and Time

by  • 

800px-Goseck_Sonnenobservatorium_26In 2002 Peter Biehl and Francois Bertenes excavated a circular enclosure outside of Goseck, Germany. Now believed to have been there for seven thousand years, it was revealed in a 1991 aerial photograph of a wheat field in that east German location. When Biehl and Bertenes combined GPS data with the archaeological evidence from the site, they discovered the two southern gates of the henge marked the summer and winter solstice, thus possibly making it the world’s oldest solar observatory.
120px-Goseck-2I’m not sure how accurate the dating may be of the Goseck Circle, but one thing is clear. As long as mankind has lived on earth, he has been fascinated with time. Ancient calendars – using lunar and solar measurements – have been discovered around the world.
Sundials, indicating the time of day by the position of the sun, must be aligned with the axis of the earth’s rotation to tell the correct time. There are several types of sundials, but in the horizontal sundial, the style (that part which casts a shadow) must point toward true celestial north.

800px-Omaha_Bronze_Sundial_by_Carmichael

Our lives revolve around time. Each year is marked by birthdays. Children divide their years into school time and vacation time. Working adults mark their calendars for retirement. Productivity is measured by how much we can squeeze into each hour of the day. Periods of refreshment come when we have a minute to ourselves. On and on it goes. Every minute counts.

As a Christian, I know that God has given us the gift of time and expects us to use it for His glory. Our true north is His purpose and will for our lives. The psalmist declared, Yours is the day, Yours also is the night; You have prepared the light and the sun. You have established all the boundaries of the earth; You have made summer and winter (Psalm 74:16-71).

Stewardship of our time is as important – or even more important – than what we do with the monetary resources He gives us. 

Live life, then, with a due sense of responsibility, not as men who do not know the meaning and purpose of life but as those who do. Make the best use of your time, despite all the difficulties of these days (Ephesians 5:15-16 Phillips Translation of the New Testament).

One Focus Blog

The Balancing Act

by  • 

1684_Circus_20As a child, one of my favorite times of year was when the state fair or the circus came to town. One of the attractions, to me, was the number of balancing acts. Since I have a very bad sense of balance myself, I always admired the trapeze artists who could swing through the air with the greatest of ease, the jugglers who could toss plates and what appeared to be bowling pins in the air and they never landed on the ground. Even the elephants could work their way around the ring balancing on a ball. I thought those acts were amazing then and I still do.

94px-1687_Circus_50Life is like those balancing acts. Most of us have to balance several things throughout a day – a job, family, mealtime, time for exercise, church and community obligations – for some people the balancing act seems endless. Many feel they should multitask many of these things. Although many things can successfully be done together (one of my favorite things is to have my grandchildren help me cook combining family time with mealtime), trying to do more than one thing at once can often be very frustrating. Contrary to popular opinion, multitasking does not necessarily lead to more productivity.

The key to a balanced life is to prioritize. Unless we successfully prioritize those plates we are juggling in the air can all come crashing down on us in extreme stress and diminished health.

1691_Circus_250Prioritizing means planning – doing the most important things first. Obviously there are times in life when we have to make adjustments. Emergencies do happen. Without planning, though, the events of the day take over and we might not accomplish the things God wanted us to do.

A lot of us are guilty of leaving out the most important thing of all. That is time with God. Martin Luther said, “I have so much to do today that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.” Billy Graham was asked in an interview, “If you were to do things over again, would you do it differently?” His answer was, “Yes, I would spend more time in meditation and prayer.” Talking about his many speaking engagements, he said, “If I were to do it over again, I would organize it much better.” If Billy Graham looked back on his incredibly productive ministry and made that statement, what about the rest of us?

“Teacher what is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ (Matthew 22:36-39).

One Focus Blog

Fear and Panic Can Cloud Your Thinking

by  • 

Destitute_man_vacant_storeI do a lot of reading about fear – in the Bible and other sources – because fear and panic come naturally to me. I am always working to conquer both.

Although few Americans owned any stock at the time, the Wall Street Crash of 1929 was the first in a sequence of events that eventually resulted in a wide spread panic and a Great Depression that lasted well over ten years.

With their economic stability threatened, some lost their ability to reason and hope. Some even committed suicide.

Failures of massive financial institutions in the U.S. in the fall of 2008 began another economic worldwide crisis. The stock market crash of that year has now been described as the Wall Street Panic of 2008.

By definition, a stock market crash is a result of panic. “A stock market crash is a sudden dramatic decline of stock prices across a significant cross-section of a stock market, resulting in a significant loss of paper wealth. Crashes are driven by panic as much as by underlying economic factors. They often follow speculative stock market bubbles.” (from Wikipedia)

Regardless of why a stock market crashes, the resulting impact is very personal. Loss of resources you have worked hard to acquire is a major blow. Having to start over again in middle age or retirement age can be devastating.

It does take money to live. You cannot obtain food, clothing or houses without it. If you are responsible for a family, the concern is magnified.

8b29516rHowever, despair is not inevitable. As President Roosevelt said, “the only thing we have to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”

If a major lifestyle change has become necessary for you, it need not ruin your life. Solutions begin with a positive attitude and a faith that God is with you.

The choice is yours. You can panic and lose hope or you can explore creative ways to provide what you need.

Better is a little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure with trouble. Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a fatted calf with hatred (Proverbs 15:16-17).

One Focus Blog

The Justice System

by  • 

Once, when our insurance company refused to pay some legitimate claims (totaling thousands of dollars), we had to get an attorney involved. Thankfully, he was able to accomplish what we couldn’t. Without him, though, we would not have had a chance. We had reasoned all we could. We had made every call we could make. We had sent in every document they asked for. They said no. We appealed. Their committee said no. We had only one chance left. We sought professional help. We needed an advocate – someone with authority in the justice system. A few weeks later, the insurance people apologized and paid the bills – finally.

GavelSpiritually, we owe an enormous amount of debt. It keeps adding up. In this case, we have no legitimacy in which to file a claim. The debt is ours. The One to whom we owe the debt could rightly send us to prison because we have no means to pay those bills – whatsoever.

Enter our advocate Jesus. He knows we owe that debt and we can’t pay, but He has absolute authority in the spiritual justice system. He doesn’t make any calls. He doesn’t write any letters. He doesn’t have to. He is the One we owe. He does something remarkable. He pays our debt for us. Our bills are stamped “paid in full” never to be drudged up again.

The reason God does this is hard to comprehend. He does it for His own sake. God’s standard is perfection so if we are to fellowship with Him, our sin debt must disappear – forever. Our holy and just heavenly Father demonstrated His love with the gift of the perfect life, sacrificial death and resurrection of His Son. “I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins” (Isaiah 43:25).

There is no committee that meets to consider our debt problem, but there is a judgment rendered. In His courtroom, He is prosecutor, defender and judge. The case is presented. Prosecutor (the law of God) makes the case. Our defender (Jesus) knows we are guilty. His plea is not that we are innocent, but He and the Judge have decided that He be allowed to take our punishment on Himself. Even though the cost is great both to the righteous Judge and His innocent Advocate, the substitution is accepted. His innocence is then transferred to us – the ones who deserved a guilty verdict but through faith in Christ became a child of God.

God’s standards did not change for us once we became part of His family. He wants us to be holy as He is holy. As God’s children, we have escaped God’s wrath for eternal damnation, but we can still cause Him grief by continuing to sin. I think the sins of a child of God must cause Him more pain than sins of an unbeliever. We should know better. We should be grateful our debt has been paid.

Our sin separated us from God and crucified His Son. The sins of His children can pierce the heart of the Father by treating the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus lightly. Amazingly, His grace continues to work to bring us into right standing with the Father.

My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1 John 2:1).

Reflective Focus

The Work of the Vinedresser

by  • 

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit (John 15:1-2).

Parents want their children to live productive lives. So does our Father in heaven. Once we become His children, He works to accomplish His will in our lives. When the Vinedresser notices that any branch is not producing fruit, He goes to work to remedy that. Although many translations say “takes away” in verse two of John 15, a clearer translation of the Greek word airo would be to “take up” or “lift up.” This same word – airo – is used in Matthew 14:20 when the disciples “took up twelve baskets of food;” in John 4:11, “in their hands bear thee up;” in John 5:8, “Take up thy bed and walk;” and John 11:41, when “Jesus…lifted up His eyes.”

New branches have a natural tendency to trail down and grow along the ground, but they don’t bear fruit there. Their leaves get coated in dust. When it rains, they get muddy and mildewed. The branch becomes sick and useless. The vinedresser goes through the vineyard with a bucket of water looking for those branches. After he lifts them up, washes them off and wraps them around a trellis, the branches begin to thrive.

That’s the way of our Father. In loving kindness, He lifts us up from the grime of living too close to the ground.

If a branch is bearing some fruit, the Vinedresser prunes it or trims it up so that it will bear more fruit. If you suspect you are being pruned, examine yourself and acknowledge that God is trying to get your attention. Trust that since a loving parent would tell a child why he or she is receiving correction, your loving Father will do no less. If sin is the problem, repent and turn around.  If you conclude that you’re being pruned, ask God to show you clearly what He wants you to let go of, and trust Him enough to release it.

Mature pruning is expressed in the Bible as the testing of your faith. Count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing (James 1:3-4). In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith – the salvation of your souls (1 Peter 1:6-9).

“You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you” (John 15:3). Jesus told Peter when he said, “Lord, wash not only my feet, but my head and my hands,” “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean, and you are clean, but not all of you” (John 13:10). Those whom Jesus loves, He continues to wash their feet, whom the Lord loves He chastens…Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it (Hebrews 12:5-6, 11).

Tony Dickerson of the Royal Horticultural Society says, “While decorative vines require minimal fuss, those for fruit are more demanding and require careful pruning if they are to be usefully productive.”

Karen Cutler, author of The New England Gardener’s Book of Lists and editor of gardening handbooks, says “the general goal when pruning vines is to keep them healthy, vigorous and productive…to keep a vigorous climber healthy, you must do the following.” I added my comments in brackets.

  • Remove any dead, damaged, diseased or unproductive stems. [God will gently remove anything in our lives that is not our best. It may be a diseased way of thinking (harboring bitterness, etc.) or something we carried over from our life before Christ which is damaging our witness, or an unproductive habit. Is there anything you have been holding onto that you suspect God is trying to trim away?]
  • Remove overly tangled stems. [God will continually remind us that we are in the world, but not of it. Put first the kingdom of God. Are you the same on Monday as you are on Sunday?]
  • Remove errant stems, especially those growing away from the support. [God will always work to bring us back to Himself. In the case of the prodigal son, he needed discipline as a son, but he was still a son and the father was watching continually for his return. If we are truly interested in bearing fruit for God, He may prune us by pulling us back before we go to the “far land.” Christians struggle against good, better and best. Are you achieving God perfect plan for your life or are you just doing good things?]
  • Direct its growth. [This may be one of the primary reasons for being pruned: God’s loving hand is directing us to be all He created us to be. When we think of God’s love and care for us, we visualize our comfortable place where we lie down in green pastures (Psalm 23:2) and dwell in the secret place of the Most High, abiding under the shadow of the Almighty (Psalm 91:1-2). Even the most adventurous of us do not invite the pruning of the Vinedresser. Yet pruning is one of the primary ways He expresses His love to us.]

As children of the King, we have our inheritance secure. We will live with Him forever, but because He loves us so much, He wants us to have something to bring with us when we enter the gates of heaven. If it were not God’s purpose for HIs children to bear fruit, He would probably have taken us to our final home as soon as we were born into His family.

“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you (John 15:16).

© Stephanie B. Blake

July 2013

Download The Work of the Vinedresser

One Focus Blog

It’s All About Who You Know

by  • 

During an international conference, my husband met a man who shared with him an experience he had while trying to enter the United States of America. My husband and I travel so much that I am very aware of how tricky it can be to enter some other countries, but hadn’t given much thought as to what others go through trying to enter my home country.

800px-US-VISIT_(CBP)This gentleman had come to America many times as part of a mission organization. Once when he arrived in America and went through customs and immigration, he was interrogated thoroughly. The agent asked him, “Why do you come to America so much? Why don’t you just stay home?” The rudeness of this comment nearly took my breath away and I was embarrassed to think that this man had received that kind of treatment from Americans.

601px-Aiga_immigration_invIt got worse. The agent told him he did not have appropriate documentation and that he would be sent back to his home country on the next flight. He spent quite some time waiting for all the arrangements to be made when another agent came to him and asked, “Don’t you have any kind of paper that gives you permission to come here to do what you do?” The man opened his briefcase and pulled out everything he had. In doing so, he and the immigration officer came across a letter from Henry Kissinger (Secretary of State) that was addressed to “whom it may concern.” He asked that anyone representing this organization be given the best of treatment. Even though this man had never personally met Henry Kissinger, his name was on the list. The agent immediately said, “Why didn’t you give us this in the first place? We would have escorted you through ourselves without any problem.”

I could never enter through the gates of heaven on my own. Neither could you. Through Jesus our entry is guaranteed.

Jesus answered, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). “But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom (Luke 12:31-32).

One Focus Blog

To “Our Father in Heaven” on Father’s Day

by  • 

“Our Father in Heaven” we say
When we start to talk to God.
“Please give us our bread this day,”
As your Son taught while on earth He trod.

How can You be both His Father and ours
When You are God and we are only men?
How can we partake of Your power
When our lives are so full of sin?

Incredible though it may be, but true
You had this plan before time began,
That our sins would be hid in You
When Your Son became a Man.

The love You give freely to us
Is more than we can understand;
All You require is absolute trust
In the One You sent, the Son of Man.

“Father in Heaven, how can we say
Thank You for adoption into Your family?”
On this, what we celebrate as Father’s Day
We remember Your love crucified on a tree.

With a heart full of gratitude, we say,
“We want You to be pleased with us,”
As we remember on this and every day,
You are the Heavenly Father we can trust.

One Focus Blog

First and Last

by  • 

Traveling exposes me to an interesting array of circumstances. Whatever mode of transportation I use I observe human nature at work. Watching crowds operate – and being a part of those crowds – is an educational experience.

Most of the time I board an airplane using a jetway from the waiting area in the airport. As a frequent flyer, I may be one of the first people to enter the airplane although I am often one of the last to disembark because I purchase tickets in economy and my seat is usually located in the back of the airplane.

At other times boarding requires riding a bus out to where the airplane is parked on the tarmac. People often line up early in order to get on the bus first, but I have noticed something interesting when that happens. Airport personnel require those who enter first to go all the way to the back of the bus in order to make room for the others who are boarding. The scurry to be first on often results in being last off.

Jesus knew this principle well when He said,“But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first” (Matthew 19:30, 20:16, Mark 10:31).

Matthew 19:30 and Mark 10:31 record the same situation. In response to Peter’s statement that His disciples had left everything to follow Him, the Lord tells Peter His true disciples will have reward in heaven. He then said, “But many who are first will be last, and the last, first.” I get the feeling He is telling Peter many people will be surprised.

800px-Rembrandt_-_Parable_of_the_Laborers_in_the_Vineyard

Rembrandt Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard

In Matthew 20, Jesus, as He often did, was telling His disciples what the kingdom of heaven was like. A landowner needed laborers for his vineyard. Early in the morning he hired some agreeing to pay them a denarius for the day’s work. He hired more at the third, sixth, ninth and even the eleventh hour. At the end of the day, he paid each one a denarius, no matter how long they had worked. When the ones who had been hired first, and had worked all day long, grumbled at the generosity of the landowner, he replied, “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous? So the last shall be first, and the first last.”

When all is said and done, we may be in for a few surprises. Our way of accounting and God’s way are not the same. He knows who has tried to push and shove his way into heaven with a false belief that he deserves to be there. He also knows who is truly grateful for His generosity, painfully aware that without His love and grace we would not be able to enter at all.

One Focus Blog

The Necessary Ingredient for Washing Dishes

by  • 

Many homeowners in America have an automatic dishwasher in their kitchen. I don’t. I have had one in the past but I don’t miss it. Many of my dishes don’t fit in a dishwasher and my pots and pans are supposed to be washed by hand anyway.

I do have one good looking dishwasher I really appreciate – my husband!

Over the years of washing dishes by hand, I have learned the value of soaking dishes. I run a sink full of water while I am cooking and try to keep the dishes washed up but it is not always possible to finish them. Sometimes it is necessary to leave them until a later time. Maybe we have company and we just want to sit and visit. Maybe we eat dinner and then sit down to watch a good movie.

If I do need to wait to wash dishes, I make things a lot easier for myself if I leave them soaking in water. When I neglect to soak them, food hardens and becomes difficult to remove. It takes more elbow grease, time, detergent, cleansing powder and/or scouring pads and sometimes frustration to clean dishes that have not been soaked. I learned that lesson the hard way. Although I don’t mind washing dishes, I do mind spending more effort, time and money than necessary.

Our_Father's_house_soup_kitchen_dishesWhatever method you use to wash dishes – automatic dishwasher or hand washing – it takes water to get them clean. Advertisers claim their best automatic dishwashers remove caked on food from the dishes, usually with better or more water jets than other models. If you wash dishes by hand, soaking them accomplishes the same thing.

Like dirty dishes, we are caked with the grime and dirt of the world. Occasionally, I have heard someone say they were reluctant to come to God because of some evil they had done. Embarrassed, they wanted to get cleaned up first.

We don’t come to God because we are clean. We come to God because we need cleansing. Only God can remove the sin in our lives. Through Jesus Christ, the Living Water, He did so. Those of us who trust Him as Savior and Lord get the cleansing we need.

Without Him, we remain filthy. In Him we become clean and pure.

But we are like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6 NKJV). Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”… “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'”…”If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (John 4:10, 7:38, 1 John 1:9)... just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless (Ephesians 5:25-27 NASB).

One Focus Blog

Vintage Values

by  • 

I enjoy collecting antiques and have several pieces. They were made so well many years ago that they have stood the test of time. Antique furniture was often made by hand. Now most furniture is mass produced by machines. In the past, only hard sturdy woods were used for furniture. A great deal of modern furniture consists mainly of pressed wood or particle board which doesn’t stand up to moisture or major usage. You can often see these pieces of furniture in front of homes awaiting pickup for transport to the city dump.

KINDLE_CAMERA_1375635137000Vintage glass, especially that which was produced just before, during and for a few years after the Great Depression are of special delight to me. Although not the finest glass, they are beautiful.

Prior to the Great Depression, there were over one hundred manufacturers of colored glass. After the Great Depression ended there were less than half that number. Although bankruptcy closed many of these companies, fire was a prominent reason for shutdown. If the company was destroyed by fire, the owners could not afford to rebuild.

During the lean years, much of this glasswareKINDLE_CAMERA_1375635070000 was distributed free as promotional pieces – placed in oatmeal, cereal or soap boxes or given away at the theater or gas stations.

During the Great Depression, companies made production of each piece last as long as possible. I have some pieces of red depression glass, which is ordinarily a deep ruby color, which are practically orange or opaque because they were cast at the end of the dye lot. The company was stretching production by producing as many pieces as possible before they had to add new dye.

Antique furniture and Depression Glass are becoming scarce. Rarity of the pieces have resulted in a spike in prices. Some people have paid thousands of dollars for the rarest pieces of Depression Glass. In order to stock antique furniture, buyers often go to old farms where they might find a piece stored in fragments or even left out in the elements. The experts know how to put them back together but it takes a concerted effort to bring them back to their former glory.

Those who work on and collect vintage merchandise will only do so if they believe it is worth it. They believe there is value in the vintage piece itself.

Unfortunately, society’s values have gone the way of antique furniture and Depression Glass. Personal standards of behavior have changed dramatically. One’s principles and judgments of what is important in life is much different in the twenty first century than it has been in the past – especially in America.

A society’s values are reflected in their practices in the workplace, involvement in their churches and community and the entertainment they enjoy. The traditional values of America can now be placed in the vintage category – mainly because those values were based on biblical standards.

It is worth the effort, however, to do what we can to restore America to the values it once held. Biblical standards have stood the test of time because they were given to God’s people by God – who never changes.

…in the last days… men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God…You, however, continue in the things you have learned…the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:1-4, 14-17).