Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2015 i Guideposts

Most of the people I know—family, friends, neighbors—are good people. The people I work with here at Guideposts are good people. And I have never met a Guideposts reader I didn’t like. So I know you are good people too. Go ahead and tell me to take off my rose-colored bifocals, but I think the world has more good in it than bad because it has far more good people than bad ones. But there are bad ones out there for sure, and some of them have been trying to take advantage of you. And they are using our name to do it. They are called rogue agents and they victimize many publishers and their customers. I really don’t like it when these scam artists attempt to exploit your faith…

SPRINT TO THE TOP OF THE HILL?” my friend Sarah asked. “Then we’ll walk a stretch.” I nodded. I was breathing too hard to actually answer. “You’re doin’ great, girl,” she said in her sweet southern drawl. Sarah and I had met at a Bible study cookout a year before and bonded from the get-go, chatting next to the grill. It felt as if I’d known her forever. She lived just across the Mississippi River from me in Iowa and we’d pop in and out of each other’s houses all the time. She never failed to lift my spirits. Even now, as we ran together, she slowed her pace to meet mine. At the top of the hill, there was a red-brick church with a vacation Bible school sign on…

IT WAS THREE HOURS BEFORE WE knew. Three hours I had to wait and wonder. And worry. I’d barely had a chance to hold my newborn son, Isaac, when the neonatology nurse whisked him away. “His blood oxygen levels are low,” she said, “but he should be fine.” I tried to settle back in my hospital bed and relax. “Do you think our baby’s okay?” I asked my husband, Ray. He squeezed my hand. “No news is good news.” Not for me. My mind kept cycling through everything that could be wrong. Disabilities. Birth defects. Developmental delays. If it was serious, they would’ve told us by now, right? My doctor had warned us from the very first sonogram. At my age, 43, I had a much higher risk of having…

DOWNTOWN AMES, IOWA, WAS BUSY, especially at lunch hour. I cruised up Main Street on my Harley-Davidson Sportster motorcycle that hot July day, on my way back to the office after a workout. Lately I’d been running or lifting weights on my lunch break. I needed the exercise to clear my head. I had a lot on my mind. I’d been a mortgage consultant for Wells Fargo for 10 years. I liked my job a lot and worked with a great team. But the past few months, I’d wondered if there wasn’t something else I could be doing with my life. I was good at helping people get financing to buy new homes or start small businesses. My clients left my office so excited about the future, about following their…

Carmen Escamilla (Breaking Free, page 48) once struggled to walk around the block. Now? She’s not only an avid runner, she plans her vacations around races! “My husband and I are taking a road trip from Texas to Canada this summer, with stops in Wisconsin and Michigan so I can do 10Ks,” Carmen says. When they return home, they’ll continue training for a December marathon. Carmen, one of the 2014 Guideposts Writers Workshop winners, is drawing on her family’s experiences for two children’s books she’s writing in English and Spanish. One is a book of nursery rhymes Carmen’s mom sang to her. The other is about a little girl getting ready for her first day of kindergarten. “As a school librarian I love telling stories,” Carmen says. “Entering and winning…

Have a Faithful Fourth! Celebrate the birth of our democracy with some inspiring patriotic prayers. guideposts.org/patrioticprayers Team Chaplain Former drug dealer Earl Smith (page 20) found God and became a chaplain at San Quentin State Prison, an experience he recounts in his new memoir, Death Row Chaplain. Check out our slide show of images of Earl in his other role, chaplain to the San Francisco 49ers. guideposts.org/earlsmith A Slice of Summer What’s a cookout or church picnic without homemade pie? If you’re looking for a tasty new dessert to try this summer, you’ll want to check out the recipes in this amazing collection! guideposts.org/bestpies Guideposts 24/7 Get more Guideposts every day! Find us at facebook.com/guideposts, twitter.com/guideposts_org and pinterest.com/guidepostsmag. Sign up for free newsletters at guideposts.org/newsletters.…

FOR THE BIRDS Sitting on my porch with my coffee one morning, I watched a lone bluebird at the birdhouse I’d hung. He looks like he needs company. When I went inside I noticed that my coffee can was about the same size as the birdhouse. Maybe I could build a few houses so the bluebird would have friends. I had plenty of cans lying around. I cleaned them thoroughly, then gave them a coat of spray paint, cut entrance holes, added perches and put each one on a post. I had enough cans for a whole village. A few mornings later, I was enjoying my cup of joe on the porch. My bluebird had neighbors! They flitted from house to house, singing to each other. Home tweet home. ANITA…

I listened to the ocean breeze rattling the windows of our duplex while I sorted files in our home office. I was on task number seven of the day’s to-do list. Late spring was a busy time for the employment recruiting business my husband, Richard, and I ran, and I needed to keep up with the work. I still had to schedule interviews, respond to a few e-mails and cook dinner by the time Richard got back from doing his work. It was already 7:00 p.m. I liked this time of year on the Outer Banks. There were few distractions. We lived on a street that dead-ended at the beach, just Richard and me with our dog, Bear, a Rottweiler-Labrador mix. The only other person who lived on our block…

According to the Federal Railroad Administration, there were 2,280 vehicletrain collisions in 2014, and 267 fatalities. Don’t be a statistic! Here are some tips from Operation Lifesaver: • If your car stalls on the tracks and a train is coming, get out immediately and run away from the tracks in the opposite direction from the approaching train. Otherwise, you could be badly hurt by flying debris. • Don’t drive around lowered gates. It’s against the law—and dangerous. If you believe the crossing signal is malfunctioning, call the 800 number posted nearby. • At a multiple-track crossing, make sure there’s no train coming from either direction before you go forward. Then cross quickly and don’t stop until you’re well clear of the tracks (a train is three feet wider than the…

I WAS MARRIED TO AN AWFUL MAN. Not that you’d know it if you just met him. I didn’t at first. He was the life of the party, funny and outgoing. Boy, did he know how to turn on the charm. I fell for it, and for him. It wasn’t until we were married that I saw a whole other side of him—angry, cruel, abusive. He called me boring for wanting to have family night on Friday instead of going out. He said I was fat and ugly. Stupid and worthless. Even though I was a petite size 8, even though I’d earned two master’s degrees and had a good job as a high school librarian, his words must have touched some vulnerable place deep inside me, because I believed…

The thing we value most is your trust. We’re concerned whenever we hear that you’ve been approached by scam artists claiming to represent Guideposts. It can be hard to tell if a sales call or offer in the mail is legitimate because scam artists sound believable. Here are some tips for identifying these deceptive practices. * If you hear from a company saying they represent Guideposts: • Verify the return address and web address. The address for Guideposts’ customer service is P.O. Box 5814, Harlan, IA 51593-1314. The web address is guideposts.org/customerservice. Be skeptical about any offer coming from another address. • Are they offering a renewal or a new subscription? While Guideposts has authorized some third parties to offer subscriptions to benefit schools or local charities, they are for…

BITTER NO MORE Roberta Messner’s What Prayer Can Do (November 2014) came at the right time. Just as she was let go from her longtime photo-stylist job, I was dropped from the substitute-teacher list after 35 years with the same school district, 29 of them as a full-time teacher. I was searching for the words to tell the school board how hurt and dis-appointed I was when I came across Roberta’s story. Instead of firing off an angry letter, I wrote one of thanks, as Roberta had. It made me think of all the good memories I’d made there. Now I’m teaching again, for a different district. It’s been great getting to know new colleagues and students. LINDA PUGLIESE Califon, New Jersey A SPECIAL ISSUE I’ve read Guideposts for years,…

It’s only when you risk failure that you discover things. When you play it safe, you’re not expressing the utmost of your human experience.” Oscar-winning actress LUPITA NYONG’O “Talk about your blessings more than you talk about your problems.” submitted by Guideposts reader VANESSA RAMKISSOON, of Hopewell Junction, New York “Some people think it is difficult to be a Christian and to laugh, but I think it’s the other way around. God writes a lot of comedy–it’s just that he has so many bad actors.” radio host GARRISON KEILLOR “Never ever get rid of the desire to climb a tree or run through the sprinklers.” via purpleclover.com “Prayer is not our last resort, but our first resource.” submitted by Guideposts reader GARY MOYER, of Charlotte, North Carolina SEND AN UPLIFTING…

FOUL WEATHER FRIEND Storm clouds were gathering when I left work, smothering the sunset. By the time I got home, just before my husband, the first fat drops were falling, splattering on the windshield. Safely inside, I listened to the rain become a torrent. Then the thunder started up. Wind shook the windows so hard I was sure it would pull down some power lines. Lightning ripped the sky. I shivered and thought of my children, my two grown sons. One, I knew, ought to be home from work by now, but what about the other? Roger was a museum director who worked irregular hours and often stayed late. Had he made it home before the deluge? Another jagged flash of lightning lit up the sky like a warning. God,…

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Cut the cauliflower florets into 1-inch pieces and combine them with the garlic in a large bowl. Drizzle them with the olive oil and toss to coat. In a small bowl, combine tur-meric, cumin, pepper flakes and salt. Sprinkle herb mixture over the cauliflower and toss to coat. Spread the cauliflower out on a large, rimmed baking sheet. Bake, stirring occasionally, until the cauliflower is browned on the edges and tender, 23 to 27 minutes. Remove from the oven, sprinkle with the cilantro (if using) and serve hot. Serves 5. From The Skinnytaste Cookbook, by Gina Homolka (Clarkson Potter). “May the meals that we share be seasoned from above with thy blessings and thy grace, but most of all thy love.” JACKI KECK, Williston, North…