Anna M. Aquino

Last fall through a series of divine appointments I met the station manager for TBN.   It was one of those God stories that I knew eventually an interview would happen.   Then nothing did.   I’d called, I’d prayed, and I yielded it up to God.    I had to keep renewing my mind but I had moments of thinking “Why God did all of this happen and then the interview didn’t?” I was willing to think it wasn’t going to happen this time around, and at some point all of it would make sense.   God’s timing is so perfect.   I got a call on Monday to come in for an interview.   The very interview I wasn’t sure would ever happen has now happened.   I don’t know when it’ll air yet, and I’ll post the video online when I get it.   It was a good interview, and I’m not sure it really hit me what I was doing until the promo for TBN came on.   I think my chest fell to my knees for a moment, but God is so faithful.   I think it went well. I am saying all this today in blog form just to remind everyo

My youngest daughter and the dog have developed quite the “sibling” relationship.   I say sibling because I don’t know what else to call it.   The dog picks on her, and runs all over her, she just screams.   I’ve heard her tell him “No” but he doesn’t listen to her.   It usually turns into her crying, me stepping in giving Mojo one hard look and he’ll leave her alone. I’ve tried to explain to her that the dog doesn’t listen to her because he knows he can bully her. It’s not that he’s hurting her, he just pesters her.   A few days ago I was getting annoyed at this; I was tired of the whining.   I yelled through the living room at my youngest, “Would you please take your authority?” To which I heard her ask, “Why?”   I wanted to hit my head against the wall.   What do you mean why? “Because you’re the human that’s why!”   Suddenly as the words fell out of my mouth I realized a powerful truth about spiritual warfare.   It was if a bolt of lightning hit me and I could see God

Last Sunday we visited a friend’s church because they were celebrating the 12 th anniversary of their church.   This church is only minutes from where we used to live across town.   We decided between services we’d drive through our old stomping grounds to show the kids the old neighborhood.   Memories and stories came rushing back.   I think the kids were humoring us more than anything.   We moved here when my oldest was 4 and my youngest wasn’t even born yet.   But nevertheless, we kept telling story after story of how God had been faithful to us in one situation or another.   We saw the door that my youngest locked me out of the house and when she couldn’t figure out how to unlock it I had to get a neighbor to break in.   We saw the sidewalk where the man on a red bicycle stopped me to hand me money once when we’d had no groceries in the house because of a faith seed we’d sown, but he didn’t know that.   We laughed about how we’d been set to buy the house and then the work at wh

I am going to get up on a soapbox for a moment today.   I won’t apologize for my rant.   I think people in the church need to hear it.   There are two schools of thought (actually more but for the moment two I’m going to talk about) that are slipping into our churches and lowing the integrity of the church. The concept of sloppy grace has oozed its way into the churches.   It’s the everything you do is okay as long as you repent theory.   It’s the “I can go out and commit every sin possible and God will always love me anyhow”.   It’s the concept of “once saved always saved” mentality.   Just because you mumbled a prayer once it does not save you from your sin.   God wants us to strive for a holy and righteous lifestyle.   This does not mean if you mess up, then He’s going to drop a piano on your head and send you to hell.   It’s not like that at all.   But use this for example, if I go up and smack you then say I’m sorry, and then do it again, and say I’m sorry again.   The

             When I was in college two dear friends of mine and I decided we wanted to play tennis.   Living on the Ohio State University campus allows access to a large amount of courts.   Though I’m not hugely athletic I love playing tennis, volleyball, etc.   So I was all for finding a place we could play that night.   But the problem wasn’t us playing.   The problem was that it was already night and we couldn’t find a tennis court that was lit up.   After walking around campus we finally opted to try to play in the dark.   It’s not like it was pitch black out.   We had the light of the moon and the sound of each other’s voices.               While I’m certainly not a tennis pro, playing tennis in the dark is a humbling experience.   You don’t actually see the ball until its right at you.   Then by the time you can swing it’s almost too late.   Most of the time we didn’t see the ball at all.   We got frustrated and while we all laughed a good laugh over it, we really coul

            Our beloved little puppy like most puppies has moments of destruction.   Sure it’s minor compared to big dogs, however Mojo likes to rip open things and pull out the stuffing.   You can see in this picture a trail of stuffing that’s been left behind.   You know where Mojo has been, and where he went just by looking at it.             Our lives on this earth are like that.   What kind of trails are we leaving behind?   What do people see when we leave a room?   Are we leaving Godly character and legacy or are we leaving a mess behind.               I remember once hearing Maya Angelou speak and she was saying that when she has a party and people come over, if she hears someone speaking negative she’ll politely ask them to leave.   She doesn’t want their words clinging to the carpet and hanging around in her home.   That has always stayed with me.             We forget that our lives, our words, and our very being is leaving a trail.   It is easy to forget this

            When I was in middle school I spent a couple of weeks at Camp Patmos.   It’s a fun Christian Summer camp on Kelley’s Island in Lake Erie.   http://www.camppatmos.com/   I have very fond and funny memories from my time there.   From the time my friend and I got stranded on a sailboat with a lady who didn’t know how to swim in the middle of the lake, to the yearly shaving cream fights.   Yup, I love that place.               As a rule there is chapel two or three times a day, I think it’s two but I don’t really remember, it’s filled with great songs and messages.   One year I can remember waiting for chapel to begin and a bunch of camp friends were sitting around talking.   One girl I’d met that year named Jill was standing up in the circle.   I don’t know why I did this but I looked at her ready to sit down in a chair and thought it would be funny to pull it out from under her.   Honestly I didn’t think she’d fall for it (literally).   I thought she’d turn around