Browsing Tag

Ellis Glenn Colley

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Ellis – Lions, Sheep and Goats

Ellis is four. He has a stuffed Simba (from Lion King) on his bed. He sleeps in the top bunk of a grey house-shaped bed. He has a window to look out and everything! Each night, when I went in last week, to tuck him in, I’d make up some wild story about how Simba had disobeyed; he had gone too close to the edge of a cliff or he had jumped on a barge in the river. He disobeyed through the week in a plethora of ways. Each  night, Samba would get a sound spanking and he’d have to sit in the corner and face the wall until Ellis woke up in the morning. Each night, Ellis would ask, in all seeming sincerity, “Why?…Why does he always disobey?” Then we’d have a little talk about the folly of disobedience and Ellis would affirm his own resolve to not disobey.

On the last night I was there, He began to talk about the sheep and the goats during our little Simba-time, in the vein of Matthew 25. He said “Samba is really just one of the goats.”

I said, “Well, YOU are one of the sheep, though. You are an obey-er. You always do what Mama and Dada say! I know you will never be a goat.”

Ellis said, “Well sometimes I cross over into the goats.”

I responded “Well, I don’t think so. You are always trying to obey. I watch you do that every day. You especially want to obey God.”

He persisted. “But sometimes I am a goat. Like tonight, I was supposed to be getting in my bed and I went back in there.”

He was right. He did venture back down the hall…to ask for one final drink, or for something he forgot to show me or for permission to have Papa come read a book or something. He had gotten into trouble and maybe his mama had seen one little glimpse of a billygoat horn growing out of those curls.

We talked a while more and I assured Ellis that I know he will always make the choice to be a sheep and we will all be in heaven together.

Just an fyi for all of us who have been sheep for a lot of years now: There’s no accidental “crossing-over” from sheep status to being a goat. If you are a sheep, you cannot accidentally join the goat-herd. It takes much more than a conscientious slip-up to join the goats. If you are walking in the light, as Christ is in the light, the blood of Jesus keeps you clean and in the right flock (1 John 1:7).

Further, there are no half-sheep-half goats. You are not an in-between spiritual species. If you are not a full-fledged sheep, you are on the left-hand—a goat. He will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left (Matthew 25:33).

I just want to be a sheep.

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Love Lifted Me

Today I got to sing “Love Lifted Me” just after hearing my husband preach about being born again. As we sang, both my husband and my son were standing in front of the full auditorium at the North Jackson church. watching for someone who might want to be born again, regenerated by the Holy Spirit in the waters of baptism.  I knew that my little grand-daughter and a group of Christians from that church had passed out invitations to the community yesterday. I met some who were there who needed to know the Lord. I am prayerful that this week might impact lives for eternity. 

As we sang, I looked down and my four-year-old grandson, Ellis, reached up to me and I  took him in my arms. He sang with gusto in my left ear  “…when nothing else could help, love lifted me.” I know he has no sin, but I trust one day the love will lift him, too. 

In my heart, I thought, “I love that, in front of me are the two favorite preachers in my world, standing right there together, one singing bass and one, tenor.  I love that I am flanked by my three grandchildren and my sweet daughter-in-law. But, most of all, I am thankful for the love that lifted me when nothing else could help; the love that completely saves.” 

Sometimes, life is hard. There are encounters that I endure rather than enjoy; mornings when the darkness lifts out my window, but not in my heart. I’m sure it’s that way for most of us in the testing ground through which we walk on our way home. But if we have been cleansed from the deep stain within and if we are no longer sinking to rise no more, the reasons to rejoice far outweigh the despair. 

I am currently editing the last chapters of our next Digging Deep study. I am praying hard that some soul(s) may come to know the love that lifts—that completely saves—as a result of the study that we will begin next September. Maybe there is someone who is studying along right now, as we enter the last trimester of our Conversations study, who, when being honest with self, knows that she has not been lifted by the Savior, cleansed from the deep stain of sin. I would so love to help you.  I’m just an email or facebook message away. This month we will study the women who anointed the Savior. One of them, having been forgiven, broke her expensive alabaster box and wiped the feet of Jesus with her tears (Luke 7: 36ff). Do you have tears today because of sin? Do you have an alabaster box—something precious to you—that you could offer Him? He is waiting with a love that will lift!

Let’s talk about this together! 

cindycolley@gmail.com.

 

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

A Good Mammy’s Dose

We don’t believe in any special luck o’ the Irish, and we certainly have no spiritual allegiance to the so-called “St. Patrick” but we do have fun watching the children in our world get excited about the pinching-if-you-forget-to-wear-green, dressing like leprechauns and eating green cupcakes. Glenn is headed to an elementary school to read for several classes (one of his favorite things to do) and I am very blessed to be getting to visit with the Colley grandkids for a couple of days.

Maggie and Ellis are a little farther away and I do not get to see them as much as the other three. But if you’re a grandmother, you know that going for walks, playing games, picking weeds for their mother, rocking and singing and making crafts to decorate the mantel are among the most therapeutic of life’s blessings. Today, we did all that. So fun.

The best part was Bible Time. Maggie’s and Ellis’s mom tells me that what Maggie and Ellis know about the Bible is not a big deal. “Every normal child can learn the scriptures if time is devoted to the process.”  I agree, but Rebekah Colley is so good at Family Bible Time (and every other part of motherhood) and I love the way these two kids are growing in the Lord. They look to their dad as the leader, but their mama surely is creative and diligent and it shows in the fairly vast Bible knowledge of these kids, who are two and four. This is a sampling, but this was late at night for two who had played hard all day. Still, you can tell they are being filled with the Word. Click when you have a minute.

Here’s Ellis, with his Old Testament overview : IMG_1147

And here’s Maggie with the New Testament :IMG_1150

It won’t be as fun for you as for me. My Mammy heart will be full as I go home tomorrow. But maybe you have something very similar happening at your house! If so, you’re blessed. If not, why not get going? There are lots of tips on this site, if you search “Family Bible Time”. It’s a great time to start.

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Dear Ellis,


Dear Ellis,

I’d do anything within reason for most people who had a real need. But YOU. You needed nothing that wasn’t being given you already and, just to see you, your Papa and I drove 17 hours, part of which was driven in the wee small hours of the morning. Your papa doesn’t do that for anyone but you (…ok, perhaps for four other little people we love)! It was worth the drive. You, the only Colley name-carrier in all of our extended family, have wonderful dark eyes, brown hair, and you have a sister who’s two and dotes on you. That look in her eyes is pretty fun to watch, too. 

I’ll make your letter short and sweet. We don’t want too much. We only want you to move closer to your mammy and papa. We want to get to witness some of your first laughs, bites, crawls and steps. We want to get to play games with you and swing you in the big tree swing in our yard. We want to take romps in the woods behind our house and take you to the lake and watch you catch your first fish and then to the adjoining playground and slide and climb and play in the sand with you. We want to be able to come to your ball games and take you to the putt-putt course and the bowling alley.

We can’t be geographically close to you right now, so we’ll just take advantage of every little chance we get. But more than we want you to grow up close to us, we want you to grow up close to God. This very biggest wish of ours is something we already know (assuming you get to grow into a man) is a happening thing. This wish eclipses all others in our hearts. We watched your sister Maggie say almost all of the books of the Bible last week. We listened to her quote her “Bible words.” She explained to us what it means to repent and that most of all “we want to be just like Jesus.” Most of all, we want that for you. MOST. OF. ALL!

Your great-grandfather used to say “God’s best people are children.” We agree. you are completely and humbly dependent. You are pure and innocent. You are eager to learn and free of worry. You are so much of what we want to be. “Except (we) become as little children, (we) cannot inherit the kingdom.” 

Your mother and daddy are determined. As I watched you in your very first Bible time when you were just over 24 hours old, I thought about the big job your mama and dad are taking on. You will hear His word every night for the next 18 years or so. That’s about 6570 family Bible times.  You will have a couple of pairs of grandparents say your name to God, along with your praying parents, every single night. That’s about 20,000 times (at least) that the Father will hear your name before you leave home.

Ellis, if you preach the gospel, you will be a fifth generation gospel preacher. But, whether or not you do, you will be a fifth generation child of God. That’s all we want, because every Christian, by definition, is a follower of Christ. That’s all we want because, if you’re a follower, then you will follow Him one day all the way to a place where your papa and mammy will be waiting for you. It will be a place where we really can live close to you, forever and always. 

We love you. 

Mammy and Papa

P.S. Your grandfather put your sweet face up on the big screen before he preached today. I thought his buttons would pop off right there on that pulpit stage!

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

Ellis Glenn Colley: Seven Pounds of Perfect!

…And the winners are…Nancy Johnson Koester and Tonja McRady, both of whom exactly nailed the length, weight and hair color of Ellis Glenn Colley! Born at 12:36 pm on Tuesday of this week, this now three-and-a half-day-old bundle has already brought three-and-a-half lifetimes of contentment and gratitude to this mammy heart of mine. His big sister Maggie, is perfectly proud of him— gentle and sweet—so far. 

We got the word that Ellis was on his way very shortly before Glenn’s plane landed in Huntsville, Alabama on Monday afternoon. He had been preaching in Houston for a few days, so we hurried home from the airport, threw a few bags of dirty laundry out of his suitcase, replaced the dirty with clean, and started the nine-hour drive to Orange Park, Florida. In only a scant 48 hours, we were making the trek again in the opposite direction. We drove 17 hours for 17 minutes of baby-hugging, and it was worth every mile! (We’ll be returning again soon for another dose of Ellis and Maggie….So thankful they have another set of grandparents who came even further than we did!) We praise God, from whom all blessings flow, for this healthy and blessed child. In advance, we praise God for every opportunity he will have to convey His gospel to those who did not have the blessing of being born to faithful parents. We pray that our little troupe could grow into a channel of His blessings for those whose hearts are open to the will of the Father.  As two-year-old Maggie said in her prayer recently, may we all “help the bad people to get repenting.”

When Ellis got home from the hospital, his Papa read to him—two letters that we wrote to Caleb, Ellis’ dad, back in 1983. (Ellis was not so attentive, however.) The letters were dated (one from me and one from Glenn) two days before Caleb was born. It was sweet to finally open up that envelope that had been sealed for 37 years and be reminded of how very little we knew (I mean next nothing!) about raising kids prior to the birth of our first son. 

But our Father does have all the answers to all the problems before the challenges surface. May every mama and grandmama who’s reading do the James 1:5 prayer every single morning. And may He give His people wisdom for day-to-day parenting challenges like never before. The “roaring 20s”, this time around, are full of the roar of 1 Peter 5:8. May we be ever vigilant, ever protective of the most innocent and most vulnerable among us.

P.S. Nancy Johnson Koester, I need your home address!

Bless Your Heart by Cindy Colley

You can watch the March for Life. (Read to the end for Colley baby contest!)

The last week in January, 2021. This was the week our big Digging Deep group was supposed to go and march in Washington in honor of unborn life and in protest of the destruction of hundreds of lives in America each day by elective abortion. But discouraging events have made it necessary to cancel not only our Digging Deep travel to the march, but the entire rally at March for Life. The rally is not occurring this year, for the first time in 48 years; cancelled for the first year since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in 1973. (You can view the limited march here: https://marchforlife.org/faqs-2021-march-for-life/)

It’s ironic that the two reasons for cancelling are– 1.) protection from the pandemic and– 2.) protection from the violence that’s been occurring in the streets of the District of Columbia. Both reasons for cancelling the rally for protecting baby lives are about protecting grown-up lives.  Just ironic. (I long for a day in which we could be half as concerned, as a nation, about those who cannot develop a vaccine for their own endangered situations, as we are about our own circumstances of danger.)

So, I’m thinking this week–and praying–for our nation’s conscience about the 60 million-plus lives taken in the past five decades and I am praying that the womb will be a safer place in America during the next few years; safer than projected by our current political landscape. Prayer and Providence make a powerful alliance.

And speaking of the unborn, there’s one unborn life that holds a special place these days in my heart. He’s Ellis Glenn Colley and his official due date is February 5th. He’s the only Colley boy of his generation, the son of the only Colley boy of his father’s generation, the grandson of the only Colley boy of his grandfather’s generation. (We’re trying not to map out his future for Him, except to put him on the heaven trajectory, but it’s little hard to hold back!)

So it’s time, once again, for the guessing game. So give me your predictions about weight and length. Just comment (once per reader) below, anytime before the unknown date of the baby’s birth. (That’s kind of fun because the longer you wait to guess, the more the baby will be growing. But you might risk waiting too long! I know you’re all invested in the strategy of how to win this exciting contest! =)) You can guess on my personal page or on either DD page. I’ll collect the comments from the various places where this is posted and announce the winner when the baby comes (and after I’ve gotten my arms around that bundle fresh from God)! If you throw in a hair color, I could use it as a tie breaker. The winner gets a package that includes all of the materials written exclusively by this baby’s parents. Here are those products. You can read about them here: https://thecolleyhouse.org/store. Retail value of the package is $43.80.