Scoffers… the book of Jude warns about scoffers… the world needs mercy!! Hey book of Jude, you’re right!

3rd John warns: “Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God.”  And Jude calls it right out – persevere in the times of scoffers… 

Jude warns about terrible division in the world. This means that we are distracted from walking with the Lord ABOVE THE FRAY. Jesus has serious work for us in big issues and sharing Him for wholeness. It’s not that discussion is bad, but agreeing to disagree allows more forward progress. Persevere my friends on both sides, keep focused above! Jesus works to pull us all above the fray! 

Jude’s scripture:

A Call to Persevere

17 But, dear friends, remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

22 Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen

Listen to the whole chapter: I love David Suchet!!!!

https://www.biblegateway.com/audio/suchet/nivuk/Jude.1

I’m glad election season is almost over, there’s much to hurdle in repair, regardless of today’s results. 

I have had to hide a good chunk of people in my Facebook newsfeed, people whom I love, because it’s not pleasant to see what they post and many don’t even realize who in family or friends they are insulting or insinuating. I’m thinking Jesus didn’t have that luxury of not hearing the insults. 

A few years back, a wise advisor told me to not post anything controversial since people looked to me as a leader in the church. When they saw me they were supposed to not be distracted by private stuff made public. They were to not be distracted away from worship. Before posting, critiquing, complaining,  we are to get our own houses in order, not create more chaos. 

Same reason why I have not posted anything about the political races. Yes, I’ve encouraged folks to vote, but not how to vote, even though I have strong opinions.  I also want to remind everyone that we are blessed to vote, to live in freedom, and express our opinions without harm. Free to speak up to keep the peace and free to keep quiet to keep the peace. What did Jesus do to his persecutors? Keep quiet. What did Jesus say to His Father? Forgive them. What did Jesus say to everyone? God loves you and wants you to love Him and His children,  your neighbors. 

Let us EXPRESS LOVE by sharing the Word. And with our time, use time wisely. We are stewards of God’s time in us on earth. (That was a great message this week from a great stewardship sermon). The truth is that the TRUTH is the only thing that we all can agree on. Even the negative spirits acknowledged Jesus, scripture says. Actions in love triumphs over actions taken in ignorance or hate. 

I pray to stop seeing so much negativity turned into anger – and wouldn’t anger be better used to fuel action not friction. How many times I wanted to post “do you realize that you are insulting me?”…  I don’t think anyone’s political views are changed on Facebook. Only result is sadness that we are distracted from spreading love. Similarly, if we did not educate about love, who will?

I saw 2 posts back to back today, uncanny duplicates, with the same Ephesians 4 message: Be kind and compassionate. Forgive. 

John, was writing letters to keep the faithful strong. To remind us to love. Love involves lots of forgiveness. I pray that peace today. I pray we learn from the Lord that sacrificial love. Loving all. Forgiveness. And fueling flames of love not friction and hate.

The truth lives inside of us, God put it there for a reason so it’s easy access for us to share… it’s still all about sharing LOVE.

Amen!

—-

2nd letter of John, The elder,

To the lady chosen by God and to her children, whom I love in the truth—and not I only, but also all who know the truth—  because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever:

Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and from Jesus Christ, the Father’s Son, will be with us in truth and love.

It has given me great joy to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as the Father commanded us.  And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another.  And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

I say this because many deceivers, who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh, have gone out into the world. Any such person is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch out that you do not lose what we have worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully. Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take them into your house or welcome them. Anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work.

I have much to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk with you face to face, so that our joy may be complete.

The children of your sister, who is chosen by God, send their greetings.

A good read for me which was better than any distraction that kept me away from reading: Peter and Jesus – so much to learn.

I am reading and absorbing the last paragraphs in this Michael Card book: A Fragile Stone and as I close the back cover – I remember oh how much I loved this book. He reminds us to be both Peter and Paul as we continue our Christ-like journey – Paul, a pillar of the church for his “passion and exactness” and Peter, a pillar of the church for his “courage and simplicity”.

My goal, our goal, is to find both of them in us – be bold in faith and be a “bridge” to faith (like Peter to the Gentiles). Michael Card says Peter teaches us that we need to “[let go of our possessions and power, let go of our position and authority]” – to be a towel and basin servant, to be Jesus-sharing to peoples unknown… Far and wide we must travel like Peter to meet the people Jesus needs us to meet, not just physically but culturally. We are the hands and feet to reach the ears and hearts for the next awakening souls. We are to serve at the call of our Lord, not lord over our causes.

Our goal is to find Jesus in us – not to hold on to our presets and goals. We must serve – and we must listen. We need to be built upon, learn spiritually and soulfully, like Peter – and grow old in our faith years. 

I know if God had a plan for me, He has a plan for each and every one – He has a plan for you, and Jesus is our navigator. Let’s keep making time to travel ,grow, and be. Let’s be of Thee!.

Amen

————

PS

I did not know about Peter in the many ways that I do now. If anyone would like a copy of this book – only $4 on ebay – I have bought 4 of them now. so good… so good…

Found the scripture to finish this silly not so silly writing from a couple weeks ago.. 

1John 5:18-21 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.  Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

I don’t know anything about why cats have instinctual cat movements,  but they are curious for sure. My cat will cover her food symbolically, will shake excitedly, and instead of simply covering the litter she spends her time brushing the sides of the little box.. weird,  cool, funny, instinctual… since our cat is so smart, an engineer cat and nursemaid cat, she also seems that she knows she’s “just going thru the motions” which are archaic and vestigial with not of house-living physical value. It is as if she says with her eyes: “don’t judge me – I can’t help this.”

Scrape scrape scrape unless she catches you watching her.  Yup.

Am I instinctual? Are we? Yes of course, hormones and brain workings, fight or flight, and being risk averse.  Parental instincts. We are human too. However, we ARE different than animals in our consciousness. However we ALL have our moments of “I can’t help this.” But for us we are to TRY to think of why we do things. And ask for Heavenly Help when we want to stop.

I, like many, find myself in plenty of opportunities to grow in my spiritual journey. With awakening, I went from 0 to 60 Spirit miles per hour in like double four time. Took so long, years and years, for the Lord to snap me into my spiritual car seat with a Jesus seatbelt. Let’s face it, our Holy Spirit lifeplan has us in a supersonic vehicle with no release lever. Once Jesus has you, He has you.

Let’s get back to that cat. Our cat is missing her cat mom, my college daughter, and I am a poor substitute in entertainment. So she is biding her time in this house entertaining herself, basically she owns the whole house for her choices of where to lounge. She surveys the scenes from her perch on top of the stairs, and had at least 6 cat beds/boxes she created herself. Unlike my cat growing up who simply came to snuggle, this cat comes with her own agenda. 

I like it when she kneads the bed, it’s instinctual and I get that. Likewise it takes me a while to settle down too into any task or rest. But in the morning, I have now had, a couple times, the feeling of a phantom cat kneading.  Weird. Nice? Scary? What? Weird. I try to shake it off but it is weird and I want to anticipate it.

I do not know if I am imagining this or maybe there was a possum inside my bed mattress (highly unlikely).  I don’t believe in ghosts but I know there are angels and I know there is a spirit world where good battles evil all the time. So was my phantom cat kneading as an angel cat or something else.  After I thought it was cute it did concern me and this happened a couple mornings but then I realized I need to remember that good ALWAYS triumphs over evil, even if it is not immediately seen. If this kneading was not of the angel nature, then surely an angel or Jesus could take care of it. (I anticipate that it is a good sign for me to simply get out of bed and get moving, but I linger.) So surely a BIG angel cat would probably feel stronger than a light simple cat kneading. Not long after these ponderings and feelings, my live actual cat has leaped on the bed and her kneading is MUCH stronger with MUCH more weight applied, and it is ALL OVER your legs climbing all over you and even coming up to study EXACTLY where to give you a BITE on the hand, arm, toes, forehead, to GET YOU OUT OF BED. I told you, she HAS an agenda. Whether it is time for cat treats or time for opening the front door for cat TV, you serving her with your hands, for things she can not do, is in HER agenda.

Of course this helped me realize that if my actual living cat had so much more power than any phantom cat or whatever, and she’s only one small cat,  then imagine that INTENSE LOVE and care from angel armies for us. My angel cat can be the sunshine of the day, so imagine how BRIGHT the LIGHT of Jesus and all the Spirit blessings are. Imagine how STRONG the GOOD WINS OVER EVIL, even in a broken world. Instinctual behavior or not, we can overcome all, in a heavenly sense, as we know the Spirit lives inside of us. 

Yes, the scripture says: “the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them.  We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.”

I have not felt that sensation since but ALSO because I have NOT looked for it, because our focus is supposed to be on Jesus, not leading ourselves astray. Keep focus edand let Jesus lead, we are in the world but not of it. I’m not supposed to get carried away in distractions. We are to remain in Him. It is not silly to talk about this and I honestly would prefer if the evil one KNEW exactly how much I LOVE Jesus and pray that Jesus would make him stand down. How about an action that is better than praying for myself, and to pray for the world’s people, for the good over evil – yes to fight the good fight in the world. Jesus is of course personal and prays for the Father to intercede for His disciples.

Yes, don’t trample my angel cat’s walk – and surely don’t underestimate Jesus – He ALREADY won over evil, won over death, and lives inside of us.

Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

Amen and amen

Remain in Him. 

All Souls Day after Halloween is remembering those who have passed. So how are they remembered? By their LOVE and our LOVE for them. By the LOVE in them, from them, not stifled or lost.

Halloween night, I love because I love to see the love of families together. I decorated real quick with lights because I wanted the families to know they were welcome at my house. (Too cold for our neighborhood firepit collection of friends, brrr, happy to be in the house). Yay, we had almost 25 kids, seemingly either aged 3 or 13… awesome… so excited… and my teenager went to walk too, I hugged him when he left, he is so grown up.

I love Halloween but I have seriously grown distant from the blood and gruel, and evil hauntings on Halloween. I’m good with spiders and webs, but I’m not going to use death decorations. No. (This was clear path ahead for the sake of a friend’s little son ever since he was lost a few years back, oh the horror of that day, that week, that month, no way. No Way….  Death be banished. Life be lived.)

So I LOVE the fall fun of the season, the joy of the children, the LIFE, the LIGHTS, the comradery, the costume fun, the walking thru the neighborhood, YES the LOVE. I’m all about the LOVE. The children do indeed LIGHT up the faces of the world, especially the people whom they visit. It’s a blessing to be visited!!! The teenagers give hope too, I gave them everything teenagery I could find: candy, poptarts, water bottles. 

1st John 2:15-27 writes all about knowing where to place your focus. Don’t love anything of the world – and beware of those denying Jesus. I appreciate how John in his letters speaks encouragement: “you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it.”     WE DO KNOW IT.

It’s good to be the sharer of LOVE in a conversation, be the truth keeper and seeker and speaker, be quiet to listen spiritually, not the spouting about worldly mirings… to remain in Him. 

Remain in Him. That’s sage advice and scripture soothing. No matter how tough or easy life is, remain in Him. 

At the pumpkin patch, I like the name of this flat variety of squash pumpkin “Zombie Bliss” – a flesh not sweet but still good for savory flavors. That’s like our walk with Christ with knowing our bliss of everlasting life, all while knowing that we are in a world of worldly attractions that may seem sweet to some but are trappings not truth. Beware the fake bliss of blindness.  We are to Remain in Him, be more true to the Truth. Let us NOT walk like a dead ghoul zombie but walk with life in resurrection-loving born-again bliss. Sprinkle real light, shine light, and be a savory-savoring Savior-seeped soul. 

Humbling isn’t it? to know our walking with the Lord doesn’t mean we have to catch up with Him, like the stragglers in a trick or treating bunch tripping over their costumes, we don’t have to run but walk, even wait AND SIMPLY LIFT OUR EYES TO HIS. And as He knows where we are stuck in worldly costume snags, and how we are HUMAN with too many human trappings, so He waits for us. HE WAITS FOR US to notice Him. And runs to catch us. He never lets us go. 

Blessed in Bliss,

Keep Walking in truth. 

Be the Light and 

Anti the Anti-Love.

Remain in Him. 

Amen 

——

2nd John 

15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

Warnings Against Denying the Son

18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth. 21 I do not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it and because no lie comes from the truth. 22 Who is the liar? It is whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a person is the antichrist—denying the Father and the Son. 23 No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

24 As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is what he promised us—eternal life.

26 I am writing these things to you about those who are trying to lead you astray. 27 As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.

I really find this passage from 1st John 2:3-11 is a good pause for us to think about not hating, or fueling the fire of hate, fitting for election season, unrest in pockets, and general ugh. Wow. Just wow. Let’s do love instead.  If we only focused on the work of the Lord thru us, we would have less time to hate. Distraction is the deed of the devil.  Derision is feeding the delight of the divider.

Grumbling is not a good thing, but an appropriate word for what we see on our Facebook feeds, TVs and mail. I didn’t know anything about a particular local candidate except that people mailing these flyers harbor hate for her. Negative publicity or fear fueling is just wrong.

Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness.  Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them. 1st John 2:9-11

It is not bad that we debate topics, but mob mentality is very easy to cultivate, too easy. True that I don’t like some candidates, opposite to my thinking on certain topics, but that’s for debate not hate. Yes, just like the dried paint I just cleaned up,  and oh yeah the cat surprises behind the furniture, these grumblings and attacks of mudslinging stain the microcosms we live in, how is it on the next day we are going to forget the flinging? Not likely. How will we teach our children to be polite, maybe bite their tongue for keeping the peace. And focus on not making it a messier world than it already is. Dump the divides and clean up the causes.

I don’t post political humor or commentary on Facebook, even if I have strong opinions, I don’t want any friends blocking me. I want to show them happy posts, my kid photos, trips, and of course the cat. 

A particular Facebook post this week was like a cat catastrophe ON the furniture, not behind it. Ignore,  block,  report,  or comment? That is the modern question. I have “snoozed” so many it’s not funny. 

My prayers are for not for unity in worldly things, but unity in love. My prayers are against dribbles and deluges of hate stirring. Verify, validate, vote. Clean it up not clutter life with crud.

Don’t let the darkness overcome, we have an overcomer in Jesus, our Light, who wants to shine love thru us. What we miss being mired in mud, oh what we gain in grace both given and received!

Let’s love first, ask questions second.       

Amen 

—–

1st John 2     Love and Hatred for Fellow Believers  3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. 4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. 5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: 6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. 8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness. 10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble. 11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them

I am in 1st John. Where are you? I really knew that one has to read the bible deeply – but like a good beach book, people start and stop whenever a good wave goes by. I have started and stopped reading lots of little bible bits – but whole books are where I need to be – chapter by chapter – continuous in my reading. BUT also important is stopping to place Word in my brain and life – actually I mean place my brain into the Word that is ALREADY in my Life because the Word is life and I am the reader of Him in me. Just like we should not miss the scenery if we read the whole time on a train trip and forget to look out the windows. Life IS a journey and really where we are going is out into it, out into LIFE to test our own truth and understanding. To share His Light in the dark world. We need to carry these truths to light the way.

I have benefited greatly from reading all of Luke, then Mark, then Matthew, then John – the 4 gospels read deeply took me 3 years (?) because I was absorbing all that I could and re-reading when I needed to. I was wanting to read the commentary of Michael Card in his Biblical Imagination series, so to understand commentary you have to read source material FIRST. The scriptures are the actual Word of God – the sword of truth – cutting thru to the message – and that makes sense because you have to pierce the gobbly gook in the world with truth. Just like when soap hits oil and it scatters it to the side, the truth reveals clarity.

After the 4 gospels, and the book of Acts (as a church project), my next reading was the letters from 1st and 2nd Peter – I paused my summer reading book about Peter and Jesus (another Michael Card favorite) to absorb the whole letters. I certainly had read them piecemeal – great scriptures everywhere. Now in my “methodical for the moment” scripture perusal/absorption, I am in 1st John. I don’t plan on stopping until I hit the end of the New Testament with lots of backtracking and forward thinking. The time factor is NOT important here but the TESTAMENT of what I will have learned IS!!!!   I think there is nothing better for a “new-in-Christ” or “ongoing-in-Christ” soul than to soak up the source scriptures. Like wisdom from 1st John – we need Jesus to purify ourselves from unrighteousness – to get us back on track and stay on track – to break up the clouds of our own fogginess. We need to know that we go nowhere without the Light of Jesus, we go somewhere WITH the Hope of Jesus, and we are not to even worry when He is going somewhere taking us.  God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.

OK – all aboard for a track thru 1st John – I hope you are reading somewhere on your own tracks – from your station – keep steaming ahead and keep looking out the windows to see where the scriptures fit the scenery – or the scenery fit the scriptures. Don’t read to race but read to embrace.

(I encourage you to journal too! You never know where the Lord is taking you!)

Amen here means we have just begun!

1st John 1:5-10, 2: 1-2   This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.  If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

Oh such an important message today in the devotion below. I’m super blessed busy with work right now that only small tidbits of writing fit my schedule, but this matches my thinking… 

God doesn’t need BIG things from us, just for us to let the Holy Spirit move thru us to be His Hands and Feet.

I have always suffered from under-confidence for what I know, even though I know that I know lots of things. I do have a PhD not from a whim of the Lord and have survived or thrived nearly 20 years at my job. So why I still have this issue, I don’t know. And that’s where the evil one tries to attack me, my stability and confidence. Well, I’m thinking that if I keep busy and listen to the Lord, His confidence in me replaces anything lost. I know this is true but I have to remind myself!  I am His for some reasons I know and many I don’t need to know. I thank Him for the blessings I have and the stability He shows me.

I walked into work yesterday and on Mondays there’s always SOMETHING new to shift your weeks priorities. No doubt yesterday that’s what happened. My biggest advantage yesterday was my listening and reading skills for editing an important memo and hearing the emotions of the people whom I was around. Oh, same skill God has ALWAYS given me. He reminds me to just use my skills and He will fill my brain when the timing is right. Yup.

Yes, my education is important, my memory is key in my job, and my dependence on God is 100% to see where I fit in. He doesn’t always need me to be big in a project, just His. Our skills are His at any and ALL jobs. He can make your day, or make other peoples day and life by using you.

Yes, my needed placement and timing yesterday and now today started with 30 minutes reading, 30 minutes editing. I could have stopped there but I invited myself into the conference call, so 30 minutes being chatty on the virtual meeting with 10 people all over the country. And 30 minutes of being available today for editing and signing off on a final statement. My role was and is not BIG but small and crucial – someone else could have done it yes, but how God placed me into the right time right place to be crucial is the opportunity He took with me accepting – that’s what we should ask the Lord to show us when we are feeling lost. He had a tendency to deliver, huh? YEAH!

Best we ask everyday, as I walked in yesterday asking the Lord what my purpose was that day, and He quickly showed me. I’m humble in His service because I never think I know enough and He has shown me that nervousness is not a problem, just keep working, let Him move me. Open minds to listen, open hands to type, open hearts to discern. What IS important is that we know and remember to rely on Him. Every minute, He’s got this. We are not big, but His. We are “cogs in something turning” always. We aren’t just counting time on this planet. We need Him all the time and He needs us.  He’s making the time to get His job done. He has shown us that many hands make it all work, we all have a tiny slice of the puzzle. Let’s keep solving it!

Thanks for the reminder Lord that You are Lord, let’s crack open that laptop this morning and get to work.

Amen 

He seals the deal for us doing His Work at work and everywhere. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10  Romans 7:4-6 

We often make this way too complicated in trying to hear something big that He wants us to do, when He simply wants us to be His hands and feet by loving those that He has placed around us and placing their needs above our own.

Amen

—————————-

A great inspiring devotion from Bob Bennett, Real Men Ministries

The Daily Dose, Copyright © 2020 Real Men Ministries. All rights reserved.

God is Always Faithful! 10/27/2020

Good Morning,

God will always be faithful to finish the work that He began in each of us!

Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”

While each of us are unique creations of God with different paths to follow and different crosses to bear, we will all go through similar stages of growth that are common to all who have trusted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Here is a few things that I have learned in almost 50 years of following Him:

God is faithful to constantly remind us that apart from Him….we can do nothing! John 15:5 He wants us all to abide and remain in Him, so we do not go our own way, which will eventually lead to spiritual and possibly even physical pain. “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” John 15:4 God will allow us all to fail at times, in order to bring us to the place, where we realize we can achieve nothing of value without His divine guidance and power.

God is faithful to allow our pride to cause us to fall, as it is a threat to our spiritual growth. “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before stumbling.” Proverbs 16:18 God knows the deepest feeling of our heart, and all He really cares about, is changing and conforming our hearts to His. If we begin to think in our heart that we have accomplished something great without Him, then we chance being deceived and eventually following our own heart and dreams, instead of His. 

God is faithful to discipline any of His children who worship other things ahead of Him. He has been very clear in His Word on how He feels about us placing other things before Him. “Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves molten gods; I am the Lord your God.” Leviticus 19:4 He will be faithful to eventually bring all of His children face to face with whatever holds them captive, as He is a Jealous God. Exodus 20:5

God is faithful to open our eyes to the things that are evil, as our enemy comes sometimes as a wolf in sheep’s clothing with the desire to deceive and devour us spiritually. “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.” Matthew 7:14-16  “In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! 13Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” Hebrews 5:11-13

God is faithful to remind us that this life is not about us, but that we are to all live a sold-out life for Christ, instead of ourselves each day. “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”. Galatians 2:20 He wants us all to become living sacrifices that are not tossed about in their faith by every whim and circumstance that comes our way. “Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.” Ephesians 4:14 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” Romans 12:1

And finally, God is faithful to remind and empower us to do His good works. “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10  Romans 7:4-6 We often make this way too complicated in trying to hear something big that He wants us to do, when He simply wants us to be His hands and feet by loving those that He has placed around us and placing their needs above our own.

Lord, please draw us into a more intimate relationship with you today. Thank You for being so faithful to finish the work that You began in each of us. In Jesus name we pray, Amen

Have another powerful and prosperous day of being about the kingdom work by serving others in the workplace and at home!

Bob Bennett, Real Men Ministries

“Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.” — Philippians 2:3

So much lately I have been thinking about Spiritual maturation, about growing in dependence on the Holy Spirit. Not simply book knowledge of scripture to increase as we get older, but hopefully APPLICATION of LIVING scripts of scripture as we play out our days. 

It’s my birthday, and I have been gifted with another day, another year. LIFE IS A GIFT. I have prayers for another great year, and a prayer for a closer walk with the Lord every day. It is a hard walk to give up self – but it is easier when we give Jesus the chance to carry us thru another moment, another decision, and to unburden our days. 

It’s time for churning up the spiritual milk that I have been feeding on and have forever been craving for. Churning and whipping up spiritual milk into aged cheeses, butters, and dollops of enriched cream for living more mature. It’s knowing better and living better. 

Whipped cream:  yet a time to NOT add too much artificially sweet sugaring to scripture, not sugar coating any biblical teachings when applying to life. A natural sweetness of joy is enough for us as we are learning to live more true. 

Butter: yet a time to NOT add way too much salt to scripture, not dehydrating the day. A natural saltiness of flavor is good for learning to live more true. Salt that loses saltiness is useless. Life without Spiritual sprinkling goes bland. Savoring the Savior gives life flavor.

Cheese: yet a time to NOT let spiritual milk spoil, but age it into nuggets of wisdom to live, keep, and share later. A natural flavoring of wisdom helps living life more true. A creaminess like mascarpone or firmness like parmesan, aged or fresh, smoky biting or tender flavors, shows us diversity in our days. Our walk without wisdom becomes wandering. Aging without hope grows old. Maturing is life living in the Spirit.

I pray on my 51^st birthday, and forward, to be closer to our Lord, to His sweet, salty, selfless soul. To listen and ask the Lord for His Joy, His spice of flavor, His wisdom to enrich and fortify my witness. To pray years to extend my life and protect me and all whom I love. To give comfort to the hurting and direction to the lost. To quiet the chaos and especially to open up the conversation with the silent souls.

Always birthday cake candles will be hard to keep lit in the winds of life. However, I pray that the true fire in our hearts for Jesus only intensifies. Jesus lights our way – He wants to be our re-birth hooray.

Amen 

—-

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. 1st Peter 2:1-3 NIV

So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear. Luke 14:33-35 KJV

I am nearing the close of Michael Card’s book “The Fragile Stone” about Peter and Jesus.  This crucial section is about Peter in the Book of Acts being interrupted by the Holy Spirit! I will finish – well I won’t – because we are never finished in our movement by the Holy Spirit are we ? ! ?

Fittingly, I was interrupted many times reading and writing this about the Spirit interrupting! Just now I am waiting for an elderly neighbor at a store, then will take her to the post office. Interestingly she was going to call me for a ride this morning, started walking instead and then I drove by, picked her up. Like the theme of the day – to be where the Holy Spirit needs us to be.

The last bits of Michael Card’s book about Peter tells how he grew up in faith, how Peter spiritually MATURED –  and he was EVER realizing that if the Spirit doesn’t lead, we all go nowhere.  Peter was led into the world’s nooks and crannies to where God needed him. We don’t get a biography of the journey, but you can bet Peter never lacked being in the Lord’s plans – we, like he, will NEVER be bored…

For Peter, as Michael Card educates, this increasingly meant he was in the world of the Gentiles – unclean to a Jew, but included, loved and blessed by God. Grace for everyone under the Son. Peter lived in a tanner’s house (unclean and yuck!) and later was called to Cornelius’s house, unclean unclean, but true believers they became! Grace Grace Grace. Peter was forced to explain his actions to the Jewish Christian community. STUNNED. Peter was led by and pushed by the Spirit. And we, like Peter, often see the Spirit moving way ahead of us.

Yes, Jesus did say “the harvest is plentiful but the workers few”.

Peter was tasked by the Lord to reach past “his people” to reach Gentiles. Cornelius was visited by an angel who told him to call for Peter, and Peter went! Peter saw how God’s Holy Spirit poured out onto them, the members of a Gentile’s house, and this Holy Spirit movement was crucial for the growth of the church and Spirit-directed. The Holy Spirit also made it so important for Peter to recount the story back to “his kind”. He had to get alignment to not his plan but The Plan, to SPREAD THE WORD.

Peter, such an important piece of the puzzle, the building of the church, well known hands and feet for the Holy Spirit to be used… He got to see such a powerful and generous Holy Spirit. So will we.

How fitting – we too are on a journey and have to know that God is going to push us too – to GROW.

To feel the Spirit push you, stop fighting the winds.

To see the Lord put you somewhere, ask Him for directions.

To be interrupted by the Spirit? Welcome to the generous nature of God. 

All LEADERS, MUST be a follower FIRST. 

“Come Holy Spirit, fall afresh on me”

Amen!!!

Well, do you have a direction in life? Got any open roads and not know where to go? Got not enough roads or no lines on a really wide road???  Ever just get lost in your own shuffle of choices in life? Would you wish for more choices or less? Do you wonder if each step is the right one? Are you stuck and scared to even move? Are there wrong steps? Yes. Are there many right steps? Yes. What about side steps when you almost go the wrong way? Yes you can recover. Do you have to figure out all the steps ahead of time? No. Is there someone to help you step? Yes. Is there someone who will even make a path? Yes.

Jesus asks us to abide in Him. “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.” John 15:4

We are free to live freely but isn’t it going to be much better and more fruitful should we choose to live ABIDING in Him? Once you choose to serve Him it seems that you wouldn’t take any other choice. You could say it is not freedom, and it is not, but it IS Kingdom-living and that’s really a lot! Live in Him and He will provide.

When you get to the ice cream place, you have choices, all are probably pretty good. Do you have to put all your energy into the choice? No. Life is more complicated than ice cream, but choosing what to do should not be so complicated. When we abide in Him, we have a range of choices too. But this abiding and Kingdom talk is not intended to be about material things. More about those life choices, those roads to take – and those choices in life, so very important, about using the abilities HE has given us. Why are we given abilities? Because we are made in His image, all with fruit to bear.  Fruit needs STRONG branches first. Weak branches not only will drop fruit, but will be damaged themselves. SO WE MUST GROW AND GROW STRONG! Are we placed in challenging life instances from where we can GROW? That is the point. We should all pray for strength. Even if you are placed “in kind” with comfortable surroundings, you can still grow – spiritually – you can be challenged to use your talents – challenged to reach people for the betterment of mankind. Yes, even the plants are in places suitable for bearing fruit and seeds “according to their kinds”. Therefore we must be in even better circumstances since we especially have the ability to bear not our fruit, but HIS FRUIT – which He will place on us – then we can grow.

In Genesis, God planned everything to thrive “according to their kind”. For the people, He allowed eating from any tree except the one He said not to, which meant they were free to choose amongst so many good things already placed. The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. Genesis 1:12.  This meant they bore what they were expected to bear….  

Genesis 2:15-17 – The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

I listened to an old recording of band practice with my first band leader, my dear friend Anthony, for a new beautiful song he had just written. We were learning our parts which were up to us to develop – and Anthony, even in such few words that I already understood,  said: “There’s all kind of room in there to do (trails off)… you know what I am saying?” (“Yeah“) “Just find your spot and do something.”  That’s what I needed to hear today and always: “Just find your spot and do something” – That is what the Lord is allowing us to do – have freedom within limits of His goodness – and do things for Him, including just being us. What we do is not always but sometimes a direct command and not always but sometimes a path that we ourselves have to figure it out. Either way, we have to “find our spot”, abide in Him, listen, be His, and do something. Another song I was being taught, Anthony said “Don’t rush it”. TRUE!. In all ways, He has given us the Spirit to guide us. We are not alone.

That something of doing something always starts with loving God, when we abide in Him, we will be free to live. If we are free to eat from any tree, and there are multiple, then we are free to choose so many things. Surely we first should choose to serve the Lord and not worry about how. Simply abide, find your spot, and do something.

Amen

PS – this leaf all colorful for the fall – the green was pulled back as it reveals all the extra pigments that were doing so much without us knowing. how colorful and beautiful we all are inside – God knows – God knows you are all beautiful.

Amen Amen

Number one message from God to me these covid months has been: “REST“. Maybe that’s what the cat hears half the time from God too, because even when I had this wake up call at 130 am from God, the cat was still sleeping. I’ve now moved around, because I’m awake, the cat is not amused. Creation is groaning (Romans 8) and the cat’s face grumpingly says: haven’t you figured out that we need rest to be God’s best?

Rest – why? Declutter my brain, make room, process to help tuck loose pieces of the day away. God is wanting to speak into my head to conjoin what is already written on my heart, that which was written before I was born. As a child of God, God reads the Word to you while you sleep.  If you are cluttered in your house, it’s a fire trap, it’s a sign of mental something, or it’s just because, like me, we kinda like lots of good stuff – right? Stuff doesn’t mean that it’s expensive or showy, it’s just accumulated, useful for purposes known and unknown. Maybe you need better storage space for stuff so people don’t know what you have hidden, and instead they can complement your organizational skills. IKEA here we come! 

What about the Word written by Jesus lived by Jesus that rests on your heart? Can you hear Jesus thru the dust? Can you hear Him and see Him clearly? Have you made enough room? Dust His Word off? What about storage space? How organized are you or did you just dump scripture into the big bible bin? That’s what spiritual maturation is all about, pull pieces from the bin to let it sink in. How is your sorting? Need a yard sale? Better yet donate your mental state to others who need more scripture stuff. It is said about stuff: “If you really needed it, you will acquire it again”. SO BETTER than stuff, scripture is what sticks with you. AHA! SCRIPTURE STICKS WITH YOU! You can’t give it away. You can try decluttering but the declaration of the Word, for the Word, is trying to get your attention. It pre-knows placement, if you would only give it time to mentally stick. Your stuff can be pre-drilled as puzzling pieces, waiting to fit.

REST – my brain never gets caught up with God, now God is catching me up. REST – SO WE CAN WAKE UP – because GOD’S CALLING. 

I just now caught that sneaky Holy Spirit parsing out some messages in my latest dreams from God -about my future – it was 3 dreams back when I awoke at 1:30 am. Something Holy Spirit for sure. I can barely remember, if I did I would write it, but the next 2 dreams cluttered my now awake brain and yet those dream memories are escaping quickly.  I surely pray my heart brain connection won’t lose whatever God said. The point is that God’s in charge. God’s Spirit is decluttering your brain in dreamland to sort, store and give away. IKEA has nothing on God’s ability to process and position your mind. God says: “REST: so you can then TEST what new thinking ground has been uncovered. 

What did God say? My friends have been resting too, they have been hearing from God’s angels sorting their dreams, fears, plans, blockades, stuff. Now that’s a mental mystery – angels moving stuff. You heard of angel armies? How about Angel  “You got junk?” Armies angling for your attention? No worries, they are pre-paid.

Yup. We got junk. I got junk. God’s only trying to get your Spirit out from under your Stuff. God is decluttering your brain. 

Mentally let the dreams come. Let go of the old you.

Move forward – Jesus said let the dead bury the dead – the Holy Spirit works to herd haul the junk away for every day to become a fresh day. Our loss is His Gain. 

Move into your new mental space – Jesus is already speaking into your heart, ask the Lord to lighten up the mental path for you to follow. 

Move – ask the Holy Spirit to help you move. Look – look at your new place, your new space – then pull out your toolbox of faith building and grace. 

Grace – start freaky fresh. GRACE. Out with the old you. You, you are a new creation. You bee new. New you is now real. You aren’t just dreaming about your life changes, you are ALIVE in CHRIST implementing them.

Hang up a new sign: “This is Jesus’s Place”. He already knows my name. My loss is His Gain. 

Amen

—–

Romans 8:26-30

the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

So often we enjoy “soundbite scripture”, Jeremiah 29:11 is the perfect example:

For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

For all of us facing difficulties, the HOPE  OF THE LORD is precisely what we need. Let’s dig deeper, as there is so much more to this teaching than the soundbite. There’s an action plan for living in not so perfect times.

A major prophet (meaning a thick chunk of the old testament chapters), Jeremiah speaks to an exiled people, in chapter 29, and relays a message that urges them to prosper in exile, multiply, and live well. (Few verses below, but not all 52 chapters, wow). He especially told them to do their best while waiting to be delivered. 

What if God told you to do the best that you can with whatever life has handed you? Even better, God says: do the best with what I AM helping and blessing you with!!!!  Would you choose to bloom where you are planted? Or sit and stew? Put your energies into living well with no qualms? Or holdback to wait for greener pastures, even pass over blessings to ask: You got anything better???? 

What if our own placement is temporary, and it is, well that doesn’t mean to NOT till the soil. PERHAPS we are preparing something for the Lord to use, even if we don’t see it, even if we won’t see it bloom, or even if it is not for us. So, until the time you get moved on to another pasture, keep your mind on the matter at hand – as well as your hands on the plow – and maybe in prayer you will get a handle of where and what God is moving you to. 

In exile, aren’t we all in exile from the Garden of Eden? In transition, aren’t we all temporary on Earth? In place, aren’t we all currently somewhere? In momentary pause, aren’t we each evaluating our lives? Especially now? In movement, aren’t we supposed to be ready to go where the Lord takes us. 

If we are called, we should listen. 

If we are calmed, we should quiet. 

If we are to continue, we should continue. 

Watch out for the derelict deceivers, seek the Lord. Seek the peace, prosper and PRAY…

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord.

Wherever you are today, seek and praise the Lord. 

Amen 

‐———

Jeremiah 29 – A letter to the exiles

This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 (This was after King Jehoiachin and the queen mother, the court officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the skilled workers and the artisans had gone into exile from Jerusalem.) 3 He entrusted the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. It said:

4 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. 6 Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. 7 Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” 8 Yes, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. 9 They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,” declares the Lord.

10 This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

—–

Bible Project video:

Jesus, you have to “hand it” to Jesus. He knows what we need, works for our Father, and was there at the beginning and will be there at the end. He will open the Revelation-told scroll, that only He, as the Lamb, can open. 

Jesus’s hands have been on my mind from two different songs by Michael Card (Scribbling in the Sand, and Come to the Table). Describing Jesus’s hand that scribbled in the sand as those potential rock throwers set their rocks down. Describing Jesus as the Word being the hand of God writing the commandments.  And Jesus with His own hands breaking the bread to symbolize Himself, just before His hands became pierced in death.

I expand on this handy thought of Jesus, I remember so many other “hands-on” Jesus moments, with scripture and with me. Jesus has the Hands to handle life and He handled death too. Please hand everything you have to Jesus, He will “give you a hand” to lighten your load. He wants it all. Jesus is best in our lives when we appreciate watching His “hands on” approach. We can “give Him a hand” and cheer on His amazing journey thru others, thru us. 

Jesus’s hands at the beginning of His Written Ministry opened the Temple scroll of the prophesies to the passage that described His coming and His life. He essentially read Himself, a first-hand account if there ever was one. Jesus was raised to learn to use His hands from His carpenter father Joseph and Jesus was raised to learn His place next to His Heavenly Father’s Hand. 

Jesus’s hands lifted children, and made mud for a blind man to see. Jesus hand cooked fish for His disciples; He hand-picked those disciples too. Jesus took the hand of a child to raise her from death’s sleep. Jesus put his hands inside the ears of a man needing to hear. His hands washed the feet of His disciples whom then became, like us, His hands and feet. 

His Hand will always knock on our door to see if we will open up our lives to Him. Jesus took my hand to remind me that He is ever present. He wants His church (all of us) collectively to live hand in hand as His Bride. 

Is Jesus worth holding on to? HE IS. He makes us worthy thru Him, to become whole from His handcrafted love. Jesus gives us Spirit within us which should be handled with care by us, fed, nurtured, shared. 

One day, Jesus will hand you a stone with a new name on it for you. Jesus will call you, reach for your hand to pull you up into forever life. Peter sunk but was raised up from the water and his wandering. We, like Peter, will always have Jesus’s hand to grab. Jesus will handle your situations on earth and then handle your case with God when you stand together in forgiving judgement for your life. Jesus will fight for and win your soul, hands down. 

Jesus, Hand it to Jesus. His are the Hands that Save.

Amen

Without getting into details of all my sinful ways, I can generally see or at least guess that the Lord has gotten more LEVERAGE out of my recent strife, drawing me closer to Him. He gets more movement out of our down times and foibles then the devil has ever gotten from inciting dastardly derision of us. I believe in the Lord’s Leverage. I pray peace and purpose. Prayer Warriors unite, we can be part of the Lord’s Leverage thru all.

In my awakened morning just now, instead of confusion, I get contemplation. In quiet time,  He quiets me so I can watch His brainstorming into my life.  I listen to His Love. In my time sharing, the Lord gets my longing, and my thankfulness. In everything, Jesus gets my soul, because He took it anyway, Jesus chooses to choose us, to judge without weighing sins against us. For all my awakened awareness, I can tell you that Jesus was never NOT going to go after my soul. His leverage in me is from taking me. Jesus got to me first, and I pray He always does.

If the Word was with God and is God, our foundation is fundamentally in Him, no matter how human we are.

Leverage. Many convergent conversations recently have been about the coldest person being easier to become on fire for the Lord than any lukewarm person is. Better than continued mildness, the Lord leverages miraculous life overhauls.  He is just looking for the opportunity to slide under like a crowbar and flip your lid. Be open to the cracks under your feet. Be ready for the Lord wants to rock your world. Be ready for belonging. Be His.

We ask Him to leverage all that’s lacking in our understanding. Ask Him for a new start. Buy into His Plans, because He already thought of you when He made them. 

Lord, please make warriors from worriers.

Make men from mice.

Make molehills from mountains. 

Make us thine, keep us in line. 

Keep our eyes open, keeping you in mind.

Bless and LEVERAGE our time. 

Amen 

We can make many claims and reasons for personal being, self-awareness, our connections to certain people, how we deal with life, but REALLY, LIFE IS supposed to be ALL ABOUT GOD. Because GOD is ALL about LIFE

God is to be respectfully feared.

God is to be unashamedly loved.

God is love. 

Jesus is to be actively reached. 

Jesus thru sacrifice teaches unselfish love. 

Jesus surely loves.  

Holy Spirit knows.

Holy Spirit grows.

Holy Spirit shows how love flows.

How will we know our place? 

By the love. 

How will we know our Grace? 

By the love. 

How can we define our life?

By the love. 

I can not do anything except by Christ.

Christ did not do anything except by God’s guidance, they are in each other. The Holy Spirit works Christ’s mission into the world by using us, light and life thru us, strengthening us and fine tuning our actions of sharing. 

Healing thru Hearing…

By our searching for God’s plans for us, we gain direction. 

By our studying the Spirit’s actions thru us, we gain an understanding of our purpose. 

Then like Jesus, we seek not to please ourselves but Him who sent us.

Jesus’s teachings thrive thru our lives. 

His LOVE we can honor by a devoted life.

REALLY LIFE IS ALL ABOUT GOD and GOD is all about LIFE. 

Be like Jesus and let our lives serve Our Father.

Amen 

—–

Jesus gave them this answer: ‘Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom he is pleased to give it. Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son,  that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father. Whoever does not honour the Son does not honour the Father, who sent him. 

‘Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.  Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.  For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.  And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.

‘Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out – those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned. By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me.” John 5:19-30 KJV 

Have you ever been in one of those fancy movie theaters or even fancier Broadway musical or plays? The drama so deep, the theaters so posh, and then there’s a hush of silence except “crinkle  crinkle  crinkle” – Oh yes, the crinkled crinkling crinkles of SNACKS. SO LOUD!

At church today it was SO QUIET! Solemn, but a deafening quiet when I was seated, during the prelude, as I was late, of course… When we went to prayer, we were QUIET, when we heard the deep sermon we were pensively QUIET (except for laughter at the jokes,  haha), when we went to have Communion, what did I hear?: “CRINKLE CRINKLE CRINKLE” !!! WHAT??? Most everyone was opening their individually-wrapped communion wafer and cup, except me (OOPS), I had forgotten to pick it up, I sat quietly bundled up in my warm sweater, and wondering  if anyone noticed… I sat in AWE of the CRINKLE, that something so small could be so loud even in a big space. Was it a good crinkle? Yes. It made me smile, and smiling is good.  And was it my daily bread? Yes, today it was, even though I forgot to get a sealed cup and wafer pack, the unsealed Jesus IS my daily bread. I am amazed how small a time on Earth can be so Earthshattering. The UNSEALED Sound of the Spirit – in the people in the pews – oh it surely pleased my ears. The CRINKLE breaking the audience silence meant God’s children were breaking into their hunger and thirst for Jesus.  Jesus was broken to make us whole. How could one man, so small in the worldly world, break the religious rigidity of the time and make such a big noisy impact?  Jesus came to be known. How can faith in Jesus be so transformative? It is YOUR Spirit pushing out of your humanness. A jar of clay hard pressed on all sides but filled with spirit.  You are God’s child unwrapped. Even if your faith is small, the size of a mustard seed, it can move a mountain. Jesus is God. CRINKLE thru that. 

What’s the next step after we step out of church, having partook in the Crinkle Community of Communion? WE ARE TO: CARRY ON THE CRINKLE!!!  Jesus, is to be shared.  Broken body, broken chains, broken out onto the world… Jesus spread to others longing to know Him. 

If we don’t take our CRINKLE out into the world and make a joyful noise for Jesus, how will anybody hear?

If we don’t transmit the message of Jesus to make it a louder CRINKLE sound than the noise of the world, how will anybody hear?

If we Carry on the CRINKLE, we can BE the CRINKLE of CHRIST!!!

AMEN 

Listening to a great sermon on “Distractions”, about Martha and Mary, was perfect for my commute home – especially the part about not being distracted while driving. Oh yes, the small distractions, the human existence we live… Sermon starts at the 45 minute mark, found this church googling a few months ago – it is so nice that Jesus is universal, and so are the lessons of how to live. https://youtu.be/mqtdhw_ZWm8

My take home messages besides the distracted driving which unfortunately we are all tempted to do, were that distractions keeping Martha away from visiting with Jesus were exactly what Martha suffered, and she even started demanding Jesus do something, even though she knew He was Lord, He was God and also a revered teacher. She was demanding for her sister to stop what she was doing and come help. Martha was blinded by Martha’s agenda. This Pastor said the tone Jesus took was soft and “look, you are SO distracted.” – not harsh as some would say. Mary was allowed to sit at Jesus’s feet (unusual at those times for women to be included and mixed in with the men for the teaching of rabbi teacher-types) demonstrated, like the woman at the well, that Jesus’s message was for everyone equally, not restricted.  

Here is the part that touched me deeply in a healing way: JESUS WILL NOT BE TAKEN AWAY. I get to ponder the blessings that I have by my virtual sitting at the feet of Jesus, by insights and wonderment. I get to ponder my blessings and NOT whether I deserve them or not. Sometimes I think of work that I THINK that I should be doing instead of writing so much, and yes speaking of Jesus, understanding His love, certainly I could never be listening enough. Jesus said: “Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:42 NIV

This reads differently in the King James Version: Jesus says: “But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

How wonderful and healing is that? Pondering allowed. If it seems like “overindulging” in studying and sharing Jesus, I think Jesus says to soothe that worry too. How could the Lord NOT be setting aside time for us to simply be with Him. He has created early morning quiet times, sometimes 4am wake-up calls after plenty of sleep to give me no worries that I am taking away time from my actual and perceived jobs. Even the cat often comes sit with me while I am writing rather than bite me to get me up to play. Even the cat is resting and watching…

Mary and Martha too (and Lazarus) were such deep close friends with Jesus that they felt comfortable with Him. Martha especially felt comfortable enough even to complain (so do we). In a busy household like that, did Jesus slip into the kitchen to chat with her specifically so that no one else heard? In a crowded house, how did Martha get the full attention of Jesus at that moment? BECAUSE JESUS WAS LOOKING FOR HER.

Martha also chose that evening to use her freedom to speak – to release her stress on Jesus maybe because He was the only one who actually came to seek her out. Martha chose to confide. Jesus wants us to confide in Him too. Martha could have continued being distracted and disgruntled all evening and taken it out on Mary after all the guests left, but if Martha did not approach Jesus then Jesus went to Martha to intervene, seeing her still preparing even though the party has already started (how many of us do that? yeah, guilty as charged), Jesus had given full attention to Martha to give us another example of His healing power. He soothed a situation BEFORE it exploded. Isn’t that why Jesus singled out Martha – and continues to single each of us out for intervention?

Jesus grabs our attention and it is not for temporary gain – but for eternal keeping.  James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” James in chapter 5 tells us: “8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.” KJV…  Yes, be ready for the Lord, prepare your hearts. Jesus has already intervened for us, with us, for us, saving us, as we now have to keep paying attention.

Jesus wants us all at His party, He wants the Mary’s and Martha’s. He wants us.

Jesus will not be taken away. For all of us He says: “Rest”. For all of us He would intervene to bring us rest, For all of us, Jesus will not be taken away!!! The quietness is a gift, the readiness is a command, the PEACE? that is Jesus 100%.

Amen and Peace

Home and Heart Maintenance!  The scriptures remind that we can be blind, especially if we just don’t know.  For me, I feel that I don’t know a lot of things and I’m always trying to learn, which is probably why I NOW know a lot of things.   I knew PRACTICALLY NOTHING about my heating system, but there’s no reason why I should, until it went down, it’s not a sin but a situation, so now I research options and timelines.  I have learned oh so very much!

I’m close to a decision,  many reasons to continue with my oil, spending 2 weeks to cover my bases (and my baseboards). With all my investigation, simple pieces of advice help me immensely. Something that I knew I already knew, but rarely paid attention to, is that I was blocking my own heating systems airflow. I was blind. Yes, I did back vacuum the my baseboards, once a year, but not always below if I could not reach them because of blocked pathways. And of course I remember the airflow is crucial to the heat flow.  Blockages where I actually need heat, or the opposite of open heater coils where I don’t need so much heat… yeah I can only do better… so regardless of money thoughts, an oil/gas conversation discussion, what’s best to do? Improve the air flow. 

I was blind and now I see.  I see the papers that snuck underneath the baseboard in one room. No they have not been there long, just since the summer, but if left, the blockage would be severe. The 1st paper I picked up (classic Holy Spirit fashion) is of a tremendous teaching: Jesus, gives sight to a blind man. 

“If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”  How good it is to open my eyes to my blockages, and yet it still took someone else reminding me how heated air flow works, silly me I know… Fittingly my heat air flow is dependent upon water flow (sound familiar?). Jesus living water is best in flow.

Jesus let the man discover his own answers of who gave him sight, God!!! The man did this by reasoning – all good things must come from God… This blind man likely already knew that, and had seen the glory of God within His heart. Given the opportunity, the now sighted man told the truth, even if it got him tossed out of the temple and shunned by his parents. He knew the Way this unknown man performed a miracle could only have been thru God. Then, Jesus confirmed that He indeed was the Son of God. Jesus said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”   “Who is he, sir?” the man asked.  “Tell me so that I may believe in him.” Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.” Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

We often need a small reminder, sometimes a big wake up call, or at least a clue… Maybe we just need to take time to think? talk it out? pray on it. When we do know, we are also called upon to witness, give advice, notice things and pray to help others open . Harnessing the Holy Spirit is a flow to know. 

Mostly, like my baseboards, we are to do maintenance, clear blockages, and think. How else can we harness and be a part of the POWER of God, unless we ask to see and we then believe… Like in a Pharisee, who speaks of God but refuses to believe the signs of Jesus, blindness and blockages come thru pride, unbelieving stubbornness, and fear of losing control. Give up the unknown for the known: Love God, because you can see Him without using your eyes. 

“As long as it is day, we must do the works of Him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

Know the Power of God in your heart. Believe in Jesus, heat up your faith.   

Go for the FLOW!!!

Amen 

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John 9

Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

6 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. 7 “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

8 His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”   But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”  10 “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.  11 He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.” 12 “Where is this man?” they asked him.  “I don’t know,” he said.

The Pharisees Investigate the Healing

13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. 14 Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. 15 Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.”

16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided. 17 Then they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” The man replied, “He is a prophet.” 18 They still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. 19 “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?”

20 “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. 21 But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders, who already had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. 23 That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”

24 A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God by telling the truth,” they said. “We know this man is a sinner.” 25 He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” 26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”

28 Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.”

30 The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly person who does his will. 32 Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”

34 To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out.

Spiritual Blindness

35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”

36 “Who is he, sir?” the man asked. “Tell me so that I may believe in him.”

37 Jesus said, “You have now seen him; in fact, he is the one speaking with you.”

38 Then the man said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him.

39 Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.”

40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard him say this and asked, “What? Are we blind too?”

41 Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.

One truth in the Lord is very understandable to those who understand. One truth is a centering feeling but actually more like a base from which we are to grow, gives us a nourishment to grow, builds in us a spiritual influence that grows, and has a safety net of everything else.

Division exists in all levels of the world’s people. Division in politics, religions, sports, educational perspectives, and of course health concerns. Division exists but division itself, simply 2 sides, does not divide, no. It is strife and evil powers that makes division into separation, fractionation into fractures, whole into lost bits here and there, who are fooled into thinking there’s no common ground.

Jesus knows what pulls people apart, Jesus knows the human struggle with earthly influences, derisive thoughts and being lost in the crowd of crowd mentality. Even the mob mentality that urged crucifixion to Jesus, He saw as a spiraling away from the truth. “Forgive them Lord, for they know not what they do.” – well that’s still true: we in humanity get carried away – and He in Jesus still saves.

If we take the truth, instilled in each of us, cultivate our understanding and our dedication to the heavens for focus,  the earthly angsts can fall away. Serious issues abound, so divine love must be shared, applied, graced with care, and applied with ample forgiveness. There is One Truth don’t try to stretch it or split it. One truth does not shift like shadows.  James 1:17-18 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

Will we suffer? I see and feel the suffering of watching derision, which is energy-draining and distracting, preventing action taken for the Lord’s sake. We will REALLY suffer surely and be destroyed if we don’t work for Jesus, or at least acknowledge Him. Therefore bringing Jesus and His mission to the world, to help bridge the gap to those suffering for lostness, is the least we can do, yes even if we are suffering for good, it’s GOOD. 

I’ve seen people suffer for much less, projecting hardships on themselves in advance. I’ve seen people sell themselves, and others, short. We are to stand for our truth and Jesus’s Way. We are to humble in His Work. Even be generous to the point of not letting one hand know what the other hand does in generosity. Let each hand, soul, servant SERVE. The servant will be saved, God will see to that.

Keep Living in One Truth. Loving in His Name. Helping in His humility.  Even suffering in His Name. God will bring you thru.

Amen

Within Paul’s letter to the Philippians,  He urged all to live a “Life Worthy of the Gospel”

* conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. 

* stand firm in the One Spirit.

* together as one for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved—and that by God. 

* For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him.

I understand that craving for scripture and especially for Jesus.  If you can’t get enough of the Spirit it’s because you can never get enough!!! I can attest to that!!! What exposure to the scriptures presented has not sunk in, rolls off like you were wearing  a raincoat, beads collected roll off faster. Dry soil. So when you do start to understand, you realize that you didn’t,  but you now do. AND YOU ARE THIRSTY.

Are there other thirsty souls? There must be. Yes there are. Pray for the Lost. Prayers collectively are not just the least we could do but the most important activity we could do. And prayers for and with the lost are not wasted but wanted and warranted. 

And I don’t know how to explain it “nicely”, but a church needs to reach people, using as many opportunities as it can create, not just leaving it up to the higher ups. We all need to reach people and provide opportunities for spiritual feeding. All activities need a moment of looking for the lost, a scanning of the crowd, pulling aside the parched, in need of a moment to learn about God’s love and purpose for them. To reach one person deeply only comes by looking for them just as deep.

If we realize how we are lost, then Jesus makes more sense to us. If we realize why we are lost, then the shame dissipates. If we don’t know either how or why, Jesus looks for us even deeper. If we know Jesus looked and found us, then when pray for the lost, we are to pray knowing the how of Jesus’s intervention is divine and the why of Jesus’s intervention is because of the deepest of LOVE. No shame or blame, Jesus reaching others is a divine directive for God’s gain. JESUS HAS NEVER FELT SHAME FOR SHARING LOVE, JESUS IS LOVE. 

OUR WITNESS, in our worship, is our witness to being thankful, it is our window to our souls being spiritually seeking. Opportunities abound for people lost and found to see us seeking. We can make open window displays of thankfulness but not pride. For we were lost and pride got in the way.  If we don’t display our open windows of humbleness and seek-ful spirituality, the lost are going to keep walking on by. Even if they are becoming more and more alive and aware in spiritually seeking, they might keep walking to find a more welcoming party to the well, people like them. Sometimes the looking lost will seek those who show their faith MORE THIRST-ILY, those seeking the waters of Jesus to quench their own thirst.

If churches were watering holes, better to be open streams than closed off spas.

If we were lone hikers and had water, and came across a lost and thirsty soul, we would share. Let’s not keep Jesus to ourselves. 

“PRAY for the lost” – that was the best advice I have received in months and months.  It’s a soul-centering call to action. It puts my focus off of me, and gives me, and us, a wide window of opportunity for helping Jesus to help others.  PRAY FOR THE LOST. That’s EXACTLY what Jesus Himself was and still is doing for you.

“Strengthen your brothers” – Pray for the lost – Be an open book of faith.

Amen

In 1st Peter, we hear about LOVE. In 2nd Peter, we hear about BUILDING on KNOWLEDGE, because we LOVE. 

Peter speaks with such love, deep love, especially because he knows the feeling of forgiveness, having betrayed Jesus most terribly, only to then have been amazingly reconciled so specifically… 

Have you ever been sunk only to be raised? Stuck only to get the free pass? Do you keep that memory or rather share: the Way Forward. 

Jesus rose Peter from sinking, us too, not just physically but emotionally of course, lifted by the Spirit within us. WHY? Jesus choose Peter to lead, to “Feed My Sheep” and Jesus chooses us to live our lives in Him for Him for God’s people, for the sake of the Spirit. Saved to help share the in saving.

In faith and life, where do you go from here? Peter had to become BOLD and lead.  Peter blessed with Jesus’s forgiveness, from Jesus Himself, gained new memories to layer on memories that he likely could never forget. Peter, on that day of reconciliation on the shore of Galilee, did not stop because he obtained life, on that day he actually STARTED his life ministry. 

In 2nd Peter (even if some debate direct authorship by Peter), we hear advice from a wise man of many years, advice of how to live and how to not. We hear wisdom that rings true BECAUSE we know there is evil in the world. Better yet, we KNOW Jesus’s goodness and glory. We are called to remember Jesus’s escape from worldly influences and avoid them ourselves.  “… to make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.”

If we forget that we are cleansed from past sins, if we are not humble enough to see a clean slate and a fresh start each day, we are losing ground, we are sinking again. Perhaps it would be inconceivable for us to forget our monumental saves, but perhaps they fade away from memory. Noah surely could never be forgetful about the Ark saving him from the flood, I bet every future rain drop reminded him of his save. He likely revered the rain, knowing Who is in charge of it. Noah became responsible for teaching about their rescue, but what about generations after him? Stories, did it just become another of the stories… 

Noah needed that boat rescue because of the rain. God needed that rain because He needed to start fresh. God needed Noah to start again. Rain was the plan. A fresh start to reduce the evil was the plan.  And now, as Peter warns, we have false teachers and troubled times, but are they worse than in Jesus’s time? Probably not. But they still are the harsh reality and the reasons for not rain this time to abolish, but for Jesus’s REIGN to save. Jesus was the plan. Jesus IS the plan. Jesus is the WAY. 

2nd Peter speaks further of end times, prophecy, the reasons for us to be ready, to be wholesome and true. Peter reminds us that the Spirit of God desires all to know, to hear, to learn. We are to know we are walking through these times with hope and knowledge of the future, understanding Jesus as the Son of God, as the Chosen One. His work done and yet just begun. Peter shared as the Lord wants us all to be “in the know” so that we can continue to live, make a difference, and stand firm thru faith. 

Next, 2nd Peter speaks of pitfalls… false teachers… blasphemous folk speaking of things they don’t even understand… bold and arrogant… “Springs without water”…   Some even having been saved then turning their backs on salvation by FORGETTING what Jesus did for them, salvation for all who call upon His name. 

Peter and the disciples devoted their lives to remembering and teaching about Jesus and salvation. Saving from sinking.  “If this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.” THE RESCUES!! Peter knows all about the RESCUES. 

Through rain, Noah was CARRIED in rescue. Then on solid ground, was Noah’s job done? No.

Through sinking, then denying Jesus, Peter was CARRIED and reconciled. Then chosen as the rock, was Peter done? No.

If the earth, formed from water, was not going to be refined by a trial by fire, could we, crested from dust,  have been made into a form able to survive? No.

If the fire didn’t refine the dust He had begun in us, could the treasure in us have been uncovered?. Then as spiritual beings, thriving as recovered remolded reborn dust, are we done? No.

But they deliberately forget that long ago, by God’s Word, the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of water and by water.  By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed.  By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. 2^nd Peter 3

If the present heaven and earth do not burn away, could the New Kingdom come? No. We are to be ready, and share for the sake of those unknowing. When God’s plan is done, it’s another time that we are re-begun.

“Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.  But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him.” 2^nd Peter 3

TO BE FOUND. We are to be FOUND, just like Noah, just like Peter, just like the folks not yet found. Let us all be FOUND, REFINED, RESCUED and READY.

The Rain and Reign WAS and IS the Plan, let us remember our RESPONSIBILITY and our RESCUES. 

Revere the Reign 

Amen 

It’s time for me to dig deeper into the scriptures that talk about the disciples after Jesus’s earthly walk.  PETER LEARNED A LOT in those many years after his years with Jesus. He may have seen so much, heard so much, but it took many years of processing surely for it to sink in…(Haha, that is funny, Peter sinking in)… That would be so true with us too. We need to let our faith sink in. We are to become more wise and more purposeful. And learn… BECAUSE HE KNOWS, we are to LEARN TOLERANCE and FORGIVENESS and LOVE. 

Putting praise and prayer into practice: Salvation is the beginning of life, not just a holding place for the end of earthly lifetime. It’s an opportunity to grow. 

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Here are some scripture tidbits from 1st Peter… (I recommend the whole chapter!)

LOVE IN ENCOURAGEMENT:  1Peter4:8-11 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.  Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

OUR FAITH IS SUPPOSED TO MATURE:  We are to know and grow. From 1Peter2:  Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,  now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

OUR WITNESS CAN TEACH. And we can learn from the learned. I think simply about learning from older cousins and friends. How about learning from our past mistakes and learning from friends who have navigated pitfalls, our witnessing so that we don’t repeatedly fall. Sometimes I think that we are in a situation because we are to learn how to deal with a worse situation later. Better to learn now and strengthen up…  From 1Peter 5: To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away.

PETER LEARNED – Learned by the Lord’s leading. Because he learned, so can we. From 1st Peter 1:3  Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

SERVE OTHERS WITH YOUR FAITH:  12 It was revealed to [the prophets] they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

IT IS LOVE THAT WE MUST SHARE. LOVE is all that will ever last… For, “All people are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER.”

THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER.

Amen 

Although I’m writing this on the 20th, I don’t plan to release this devotion for a week. Because in pre-writing, I’m pre-praying best outcomes. I wrote a devotion about Jesus in processing the previous morning (All things point to Jesus, 19SEP) because of this crucial reason: a friend said he had a fever and I feared a Covid situation. More than a small ugh. Not something to brush off. Thank God, it turns out all is OK. These incidents are going to be common to us, and most frightening… There is good reasons in FORESIGHT that Jesus said “Don’t worry about tomorrow, only worry about today” – tomorrow has enough to deal with. And Jesus has said that days are evil, to be aware, because of the world influences of evil – which in turn ALSO become the inner influences of FEAR. Here is my deep processing devotion about FEAR after writing the first one. I share this openly a week later to not add extra fear and angst into the situation. When I read this a week from now, I hope I can say that I believed that Jesus would have handled me all week long with finding me, and un-finding my fear… taking on precautions and not paranoia. (AND HE DID! I add this note on 25Sep – Yes He Did! All is well.  I even ended the week with my first non-family member hug in 6 months, details below, after the scriptures)

Fears are Always UnFounded

Instead of saying Fears are unfounded, maybe it’s better to say Fears are PRE-FOUNDED, as “unfounded” fears are before finding, before one’s lostness becomes re-found, before you remember to look at the one who found you and you are to find. I mean fears are unfounded before Jesus gets a hold of the fear to take care of it for you and Jesus gets ahold, especially, of you. Days are evil, therefore hold onto Jesus because He is already holding on to you. 

Being found by Jesus is LIFE CHANGING, therefore until you ALSO put your fears into His Hands as well, your fear can unhinge you. It IS still normal to be afraid, yet you will never be Un-Found by Jesus,  He never loses you. Even if you, with your fears, sometimes get carried away, Jesus is the better Way. Real fear is unfounded when JESUS IS SO MUCH MORE REAL.

I had tremendous fear Friday night, 9/18, a late night just before bed when I woke up from my couch collapse and read an email of a colleague who offhandedly said something about having a fever. There’s nothing that can ever be retro done, removed for hope. What’s done is done and I had been sitting 2 solid hours in a conference room with him only 2 days prior,  2 feet apart. Yes, we were wearing masks, but still fear fear fear. Although other fever-inducing ailments and Covid cases are low right now, and he could have been joking, the word FEVER begets FEAR at FEVER PITCH.  I’m not a germophobe and my fear was so small for me, of my fear of getting sick, but at that very moment having my college daughter home for just that one night struck fear fear fear. Not even much fear for her getting sick, but carrying asymptomatic cases back to campus, to roommates, to roommates’ families especially elderly grandparents.  Fear fear fear. I had already felt like I killed a grandparent and I had only read an email. That’s conviction without trial, that’s what makes days evil. Jesus replies with “I’ve got you.”.

Was my fear Founded or UnFounded?

Real concern is warranted, but fear is unfounded when you find the One who can help you to deal with your fear. If you can give up your fear, you can concentrate on your concern and create a plan. You can rely on Jesus to shine light on plans.

Only learning of this fever (or pure joking) incident AFTER bringing my daughter home, I felt stuck. But thankfully we had ALREADY decided to wear masks all weekend, especially in the car, around each other. Best precautions we managed for moving her into school, this was 3 weeks later for a quick visit home, so best precautions were already in place. Best to get off to sleep. That’s when I had the nightmare of falling, falling into a chasm of nothing to catch me, that got incorporated into an awful dream sequence, oh…. it’s not a good feeling… the falling fear is un-grounded not just un-founded, but it’s SO SCARY.  

Jesus. Jesus is the name to call. He can catch. He can save. He can hold. He reminded me when I woke up that I was NEVER NOT OK. I praised Him for my wakefulness and realizing that I had never fallen or dropped.  Waking up, my Fear Fell but I had NOT. 

Fear fell, but I did not fall, because I reached for Jesus. 

Late morning, finally a plan began falling into place, so I texted my friend at “fevered pitch”: “Are you OK?”, “Are you serious?” “Prayers for you, and no worries either way, but I would like to know more!!! I can sel-isolate if needed. ” Whew. Whew.

Jesus held me and fear fell. My friend said that the doctor said NOT Covid. I decided to be watchful anyway. I’ll hope and pray. Not sure really what was up but for that very moment my fear WASN’T. Fear fell.

My normal routine of masks and distance brought me comfort in my plan, as we went shopping and back to campus. I changed my mask 5 times that day but I never changed my mind on the real truth in Jesus to comfort, catch, find me where I was. 

Jesus is the founder of us being found. Without Him, we have no other ground. 

My heart and my burden are in His Hands. My hopes and dreams are in living in Him as He lives in me. My best Thanksgiving is nothing compared to His Giving. In Jesus is Found Living.

Found. 

Found. 

FOUND. 

Amen 

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Such important scriptures:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7 

Cast all your anxiety on Him for He cares for you. 1st Peter 5:7-11

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. 1st Peter 5:7-11

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire —may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1st Peter 1:3-9

The LORD is my light and salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of what shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1)

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FYI – Monday I questioned “do I work from home or not?” well, apparently I did not even have to think about that, with the new circumstances of a heater repair putting me firmly at home waiting for the service technician. The boiler is needing to be replaced so the next day put me firmly at home again too – funny how the Lord often provides in a sideways fashion to achieve something (sideways to us but always in direct understanding to the Lord). And hmmm, the money to pay – I don’t know the amount yet, but the Lord will provide a plan I am sure of that – I just have to worry about today not tomorrow…

Tuesday I cannot even remember, except for the sticker shock of the oil burner boiler replacement estimate at $7600. Um, yeah. Tuesday. Then Wednesday I worked so much it was crazy but good, really good that I felt well. Wednesday, feeling healthy, I allowed myself to go to work for mostly outside things, online meetings, a walk, a flu shot inside the building for the briefest moments, picking up a fruit share of apples and wow hearing of a spot bonus of $100 for being on the activities committee,  wow crazy.  I also delivered chocolate (another thank you gift from work) to a pregnant coworker friend, working at home, tending to her older son. I left the chocolate at the door. Her place so CONVENIENTLY near a retreat camp, where I took a wifi field trip, sat outside their main building on a wooden chair, gladly my computer already knows their wifi password. Got work done plus got in some needed prayers. I weeded a prayer garden brick path because I could.  I then sat on the bench and I HEARD GOD SPEAK. Focusing away from the fray of life, to set busyness to the side, I prayed and listened. In firm bold letter phrasing “TAKE CARE OF MY SON”.

OK 

More about Wednesday, this year’s flu shot arm pain was not to be denied! Ouch but important. And home afterword, I had a total couch collapse,  but not from the shot, just from the day. Yes, that spot bonus was nice, so at a farm stand I bought myself lunch then an ornamental pepper plant.

Thursday – that’s today and this morning I am wrestling with ear pain, oh must be allergies, oh rats… arm pain ibuprofen helps yes, and a cup of tea soothes my 5AM cat wake up call. 

Friday- no ear pain – no worries – no need to fear – still time to work and still time to enjoy – Friday is fabulous to those M-F workers knowing Saturday is a day off – Friday is Friday – woohoo!  And I did an important moving forward step by visiting a little shop on my way to work, which became less about why I was there and more about being blessed to be there, with the most marvelous conversations with the owners and workers. And I continued to be the social one, when I went to work, as I had hands on work to do in the building. And wow I talked to 50 people as I often do. AND I also got a hug tonight, with masks on, with a cherished coworker who is leaving for a new job. Every decision we make is a gamble for human life and death, and that hug felt so worth that gamble at that moment, actually we took 3 hugs before I left. It was the first hug other than my kids that I shared in 6 months. Wow. Yes it is a gamble and I have to trust in the Lord. From the scary beginning of this week to now the Spirited end, God never left me and I say that it was a great week. Jesus always shined, the Spirit always showed up to work with me. As I close this Friday, I keep in prayer those sad situations of illness for friends and family, new deaths, and new cases of Covid in friends of friends that I just heard about. New concerns on top of old concerns for the world. I will not worry today but pray, and let tomorrow worry about itself. 

And remember that in EVERY moment that we can live IN THE SPIRIT with no gamble at all, every moment of being alive in the Spirit is NO gamble – it is only life…

Tonight, I pray thankfulness for the week,  thank You Lord, for the trials and the joys. I pray that all become one with the Spirit and live each day for unity. 

Saturday? That whole day is a NEW BEGINNING. Let’s make it FOR THE LORD.

Amen Amen Amen 

I’m thinking this morning of a church declining, not one here where I currently live, but long ago, in another state. A place many years ago, where I went to help a friend serve pie. Yes, pie and dealing with pie on that day became a symptom and symbolism of the beginning/ongoing decline of a church building to me, because there were so many unwritten rules and expectations about pie at their chicken barbecue. Pie. The chicken cooking probably had far fewer hang-ups than the pie.

I came into the kitchen with my pies (I used to bake so many, had quite the excitement about my pies from work folks) but my pies and their quality are NOT important here, it was about attitudes in an established church – and here I came as a stranger. I stepped in with my smile, my willingness to help, to step into a kitchen of people that I did not know, it was about my fearless method to cut the pies, and probably my generous portions. I shook the kitchen establishment of pie ladies, and their rules, just by being me. God forbid that day if I crossed the social lines out to the men cooking the chicken, invading their turf, LOL. I remember there were some grateful women in the kitchen as I was a breath of fresh air to chat with and did not get stressed over pie. And I really don’t remember any flack, I was told there might be, but I don’t remember any to my face, I don’t even thing there was any behind the scenes, I remember only nice people, gratitude that I came to help them that day. I really only remember standing cutting pies, the mission of pie.

Pharisees were shook up by Jesus stirring up the church of His earthly times.  Jesus shook up the people by being so smart and teacher-like but He had come from humble beginnings, how could this be? The rulers were shook up. And others were interested in Jesus not even knowing what the rulers were saying. Jesus stepped outside the box. Jesus even talked to women, crossed the lines of social norms, and oh wow, He touched unclean people.  Jesus came for a mission. People were shocked when the One person that scripture had told them was coming had actually come. Learned, established folk could not shake or share their establishments to comprehend what was happening.  “You can read the weather, but can you not read the signs of the times.?”

I’ll put it in plain ole English: “When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, straightway ye say, There cometh a shower; and so it is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will be heat; and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, ye can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that ye do not discern this time?”

All of Luke 12 gives volumes of wisdom. How earth-shattering it was that CHANGE had to be understood by the people. Even though Jesus performed miracles, people doubted. Even though Jesus rose from the dead, people doubted. We are a human race of humans. Stuck in our method of pie. Obviously the pie story is just a small incident, not deep scripture teaching, but it is a common tale of people being people. I even will say that no flack came my way that pie cutting day, but the PERCEPTION was that I was going to upset the kitchen, tip the carts, be too bold just by bee-ing me. People sometimes can not wrap their heads around changing things that others, who are now long gone, cared about. Imagine if I had brought a cake to the pie kitchen! Oh dear. Would I have been tossed out? No. Of course not. They were wonderful people. But the breath of fresh air to some ladies was such a great thing that day. Can you feel their sighs of relief? I only visited that church a couple times. Is this church thriving today? 30 years later? No. I don’t think it’s any different than many churches fading in their reach to others. Less people means less workers and less outreach. Imagine if that church or any church could become a place again that thrived. Where pie did not even have to be a fundraiser, but where FREE PIE was given out instead. Where slices were generous and marvelous but better than fluff – where the food was fulfilling and good. Imagine a place where resources like daycares and counseling services were open and easily available. IMAGINE THE FREE SHARING OF JESUS.  Imagine a place where the lost could be found. The workers are few and the harvest is many. Don’t be afraid to change the way of the pie, don’t be afraid to make new plans in the devotion to make new disciples. Be like Jesus and cross boundary lines to meet the people where they are. Be open to change, especially since the Change has come to the world, born a child of a virgin, suffered died buried and rose again. Don’t doubt that the dead can rise again. Don’t doubt that faith is not fuel-able. Don’t be afraid to seek feeding in order to feed. Just look to the times and learn how to read the Spirit that still exists, never changing, ever present.

Change the pie and change the feeling of the moment. Change the moment and bring it back to mission. The mission is to share Jesus. 

Bring Jesus into every situation. Choose to serve Jesus and change the world. Harvest the crops, but first help plant, help nurture seeds that are sprouting, and tend to young plants maturing. And bring it out of the kitchen, out into the world. 

One more scripture, from Paul to the Corinthians, about building up churches, people, and fanning into the flames of faith: “So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.  The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building.”

Paul continues, reminding the church folks: “By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.“

Pie, it’s not about the pie. It’s not about earthly things. It’s about Jesus. Pie won’t last, people won’t even remember the barbecue, the flames will burn the things that are not going to last. But Jesus lasts… JESUS IS GOD, AND GOD WANTS US TO SHARE. 

Amen

I want to help out the Kingdom here as it is in Heaven: I want to Pray.

Who Will Pray? How Do I Pray? GOD Says Just Do! GOD Asks You!

Lord, I don’t always take time to pray? What can I do?

Start Today, take time to pray. Every day, you can start anew.

What if I don’t know what to pray about? Well, here is how I will simply start, I will pray to YOU!

What if I don’t know all the details of the issues? Well, You do, I will pray to acknowledge YOU!

What if I go to bed forgetting to pray? Get lost in my day? Well, You won’t forget, and each day You will see me thru. At the end of the day, my prayer is that I listened to You.

And I do Lord, need to hear and want to hear YOU.

I went to pray in a prayer garden – it is peaceful and that is because PEACE COMES FROM YOU.

Walking in, I noticed bricks with names – Oh, these are Your children, Lord, they Love YOU.

Bricks in memory and honor – but the weeds blocked the names – yet You can read them, actually You are why they were all made NEW.

I weeded the weeds silently, enjoying dirt under my nails and seeing names come back to my eyes, these names made prayers in my heart. I don’t know them – but YOU DO!

Sitting now to write these words, I know really it is YOUR SPIRIT that chimes thru.

So, I now do pray God: “What can I hear from YOU?”

You then clearly said: “TAKE CARE OF MY SON.” I heard You, clear as clear can be. Yes God, I heard YOU.

My son is Your son, my children son and daughter are Your children. You already take care of them with me, for me. You do. Thank You.

You said “MY SON” – well Your Son is Jesus, the LIVING WORD, He is whom I truly live thru. Take care of Him in Me, because Jesus LIVES and the Holy Spirit advocates for You.

Because He lives in me, I find His Life want to break thru mine, His Words want to burst thru mine, His Love is ALIVE. His Life is True.

God – even in my wordless groans, Your Spirit in me means that I am able to pray to YOU.

I heard: “TAKE CARE OF MY SON.” YES, GOD – I GET YOU!

Make me aware for any time I can share – that Jesus is YOUR SON, OUR SAVIOR in Spirit and Truth.

Lord Jesus, shine thru me – less me, more You!

Amen Lord, and THANK YOU!

Overlapped, the Lord has us overlapped and carefully carried to bridge us thru this world. We are not to fret or fight, but to look to how He takes care of us. The biggest mental overlap to bridge us from us here on earth to Eternity is that He has already and ALWAYS wanted us in His Kingdom. We go from here to there. The best possible overlap is our salvation, in our Savior Jesus, thru our Vine, our forgiveness and our hope. The emotional intensely feeling of deliverance, overlap between ourselves and our Father can be shared in a gifted prayer, given for any moment that we don’t know what else to say or pray, Jesus gave us these words: Our Father, Who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. 

Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Any and all unknowns, we have a bridging prayer. We have both a requesting prayer as well as a requirement prayer: Give us this day, our Daily Bread. (That’s Jesus!!! That’s not simply our meals but our whole sustenance that we need daily)…  And forgive us our trespasses (that’s a request, that requires us to follow Jesus) As we forgive those who trespass against us. (That’s a requirement)

If we have yet to forgive others, it’s an action plan. If we have yet to forgive ourselves, it’s a command. If you look at different versions of the bible, there are differences in tense. Past tense: “as we have forgiven” vs present tense “as we forgive” vs future tense “keep us forgiving“… I never noticed the difference before, in these differences in translation, and yet all are true as there is one Christ Jesus and one forgiveness and one hope. Past, Present,  Future,  all forgiveness requires Jesus. 

NIV: And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.

NKJV: And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.

MSG:  Keep us forgiven with you and forgiving others.

And Lead us NOT into temptation. But deliver us from evil. Ah, we are human beings, so human, and the blessings we have that we forget, the yearnings we have that cloud our hearts and minds, the omissions we make that clutter our sight… human human human. What are we to do? Believe in the One God sent. Trust in Jesus to see our Spirits out of our fray.

To add the extra verse is to know these given truths of our lives IN Jesus, that EVEN JESUS would attest that God is all in all. Jesus even being one with the father gave ALL credit to Our Father:

For THINE is the KINGDOM, and the POWER, and the GLORY, FOREVER. 

AMEN 

Yes Amen, and yes forever ago and forever forward into forever. As far as east is from the west we forgiven and are wanted. As fallen we might feel from our view of Him at times, His love takes a never ending view of us. HIS LOVE never ends, He always has us in His sight. Jesus has us in His Care. The Spirit advocates for our inclusion. 

We are OVERLAPPED by Grace. Forgiven by Grace. Included as Children of God.

Praise the Lord. 

Praise the Lord, oh my soul.

Amen 

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Psalm 103 (NIV)

Praise the Lord, my soul;  all my inmost being, praise his holy name.

Praise the Lord, my soul, and forget not all his benefits — who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,

who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.

He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel: The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.

He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;

as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.

The life of mortals is like grass,  they flourish like a flower of the field;  the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.

But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children — with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.

The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.

Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word.

Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts,  you his servants who do his will.

Praise the Lord, all his works

    everywhere in his dominion.

Praise the Lord, my soul.

I rewrote the thought of “In all things, point to Jesus.” – to be: Living Jesus in our lives IS the point. We want Jesus to Make a Point. We want to make a Jesus Point.

Scary things? Give comfort and take comfort and let Jesus make a point of showing you where and who comfort comes from. Weirdly enough times? Give comfort and take comfort and let Jesus make a point.  Exciting news times? Give thanks and make a Jesus point. 

Ever have a moment when you start to worry about tomorrow, next week, anything and everything that HASN’T happened yet but yet you are consumed with fear? Today has it’s own real troubles so don’t go beyond those to newly imagined troubles tomorrow. Jesus said that. Jesus was making a point about not worrying: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.  Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:33-34 …That’s a good point, thanks Jesus.

I have found that keeping sight of today and today alone is the best way to stop letting my worst fears get away with me. Sight of today is best done the Jesus way, just keep sight of Him in the day, live the Jesus way.

I’ve had many night scares throughout my life, replaying where I am in danger of falling. I know these are random things, my past fears being processed in ways that I don’t understand but with our dream method of healing us, our fears are processed and dealt with. When I have woken up, I realize it was a dream not reality. I had not fallen, I’m not at that place, I realize I would have surely either caught something or hit rock bottom, but I wake up before that happens. I wake while I am not yet finished falling…  Um… I am pretty sure that is true of our lives in Jesus too, we have not yet finished – not just falling but rising and being held. We are not yet ever too far gone. When we wake up, we realize we are OK. We WON’T hit rock bottom of death, because Jesus rocked out death first to instill life.  We WON’T forever fall, because Jesus CATCHES. If you want to understand PEACE, peace WITHOUT understanding, just reach to JESUS. Just Jesus.  Isn’t that the point? Jesus is the point.

If you are scared, reach for Jesus. He is already reaching. 

If you are lost, look for Jesus. He’s the Light and already looking for you.

If you are peaceful and protected, thank Jesus for you have felt His net.

I worry, we all do. We all die eventually, but not today. Don’t worry about dying today, only living today. 

We worry about our family and friends, we all do. Don’t worry about their demise today, celebrate their living. Celebrate their hopes and dreams. Be their comfort and love. Be their Jesus net. Point to Jesus for the source of their strength and joy. Make a point to point out your hope and joy in Jesus, thru Jesus and Jesus thru you.

Looking at the King James Version in such poetic verse:  “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

It is not you who would worry about tomorrow anyway – but Jesus’s point is that TOMORROW WILL WORRY ABOUT TOMORROW. It is not you who should worry about today anyway – today will take care of itself. So just today, Just you, Just Jesus, Just sharing Jesus to comfort others. That’s today’s mission. 

Jesus Just Jesus. Spread the news.

Amen 

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Philippians 4:4-9 ESV

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.  What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.

LOVE is Never Wasted 

Especially LOVE given to you.

All Love comes from the Lord, do we have to worry if it sometimes feels wasted? No… the Lord has shared endless LOVE, so can we. LOVE is Never Wasted. 

If we give you LOVE to a level that seems foolish, will we be a fool for LOVE? Yes. Yes, yes, I am a fool for LOVE because it is a spillover from being a fool for the Lord… Jesus said we will look foolish to the world… We now know why He did LOVE us foolishly and still does… So, is it foolish of Jesus to LOVE us so deeply? Not to Him. Therefore it shouldn’t be to us. Because Jesus IS LOVE. He gave it all because He was All,  He is All.

LOVE is foolish to the people who see a fool. LOVE is gifted to the people who see a gift. LOVE is LOVE to the LOVED.

LOVE is not a given but a gift. It never disappears or is wasted. LOVE is simply passed along. 

LOVE looks for LOVE’S return, but it’s not a back and forth as much as it is a spiral LOVING reaching forward. 

LOVE grows deeper to those who have opened up their heart to receive it. More LOVE is refilled and restored to those who share it … LOVE is not to be shut off but often to be redirected … LOVE never comes up empty. 

LOVE forms, flows, follows, forevers, forgives, forgets, fills, finds, fuels, finds, focuses, flames…. LOVE is lovely…

If my LOVE is too over the top, let me try opening my heart deeper, wider, fuller… how else could we contain LOVE? We cannot. We should not. LOVE is not containable when LOVE passing thru me is intended to be splashed on you. 

The Lord LOVES lavishly, how can we not? When we realize that we are LOVED so intensely,  we might be overwhelmed… to be OVERWHELMED, to be so saturated with His LOVE that there’s no more place to store it, that is so we must splash it back out…

God knows how to LOVE us…

We hope too,  splash but not spill, inspire but not inundate.

Because God does LOVE you. God LOVES you for you. 

OUR Lord LOVES thru you. LOVE shared serves even more. 

To serve the Lord with His LOVE, is a LOVING thing to do…

LOVE is God in, to, and thru. 

Amen 

My summer reading, I’ve never had one before but this summer is different and has me extra blessed to have time to focus on faith. I’ve REALLY enjoyed reading this Michael Card book “A Fragile Stone” and I’ve gotten to the chapter about Jesus forgiving Peter for his 3 denials the night Jesus was being arrested. Yeah, reconciliation on the beach shore, Jesus asks 3 times “Do you love me?”… I’ve read this chapter piecemeal at a few different shore locations within 2 weeks… I’ve read it again and again for it resonates with me – feed My sheep – and it is a pivotal beginning to Peter, to his relationship with Jesus AND the others, pivotal to the beginnings of the spread of the news of Jesus, pivotal to Jesus Himself finally getting thru to Peter for good….  and to me – especially to the Peter-tendencies in me…

WOW – so strong a message… souls so incredibly broken, feeling the deepest repair…

Love qualifies Peter to be whom Jesus needs Him to be… LOVE so divine to reconcile and recruit… 

And oh how Peter must have felt he was refined in the fire, to become the complete follower of Jesus and called to be Jesus’s chosen leader of the others… Jesus says: “Follow Me”

It is one thing to know how blessed you are, but a totally deeper thing to know how forgiven you are. Don’t recount your deepest flaws but know they are forgiven. You have been recovered and rescued from the depths.

Oh, to feel that immense deep love from Jesus – Yeah – wow… Peter, and me, and us… oh yes, he was THAT broken, then he was repaired THAT much…

YEAH… if you know repair and love, you know…  if you know, you follow… if you follow, you lead… if you lead, you follow…

Even if sin is all equal, our distance from Jesus can feel varied. Our brokenness and our denials of His plan for us are overcome with the deepest widest of catches. Yes Jesus reaches and looks and He will scrape the bottom of the depths of everywhere to find you – to recover just one soul… to get me, to get you…  YEAH… if you know, you know…  if you know, you follow… if you follow, you lead… if you lead, you follow…

Then, the second part of follow is to do our part, embracing the role the Lord has for us. Just like Jesus knew of Peter’s purpose, He knows our potential purpose. We must embrace our purpose. It’s great to be a believer but to believe to move where Jesus leads? YEAH…

A Savior’s calling needs a listener… a listener needs processing… processing needs a process… a process needs a Savior. A Savior needs His saved ones and His saved ones need to head their Savior’s calling. 

This is not a circle but a growing spiral… natural patterns are full of spiral shapes, following mathematical and personal rules like the golden ratio and the golden rule. A spiral goes places… so we are to go, with faith, places too.

Yeah… YEAH… if you know, you know…  if you know, you follow… if you follow, you lead… if you lead, you follow…

YEAH, you GROW…

The one thing I know about The Bible is that I don’t know enough about The Bible. Lately I have been intrigued by scriptures of the ANGEL ARMIES. Two recent sermons RE-rekindled my intrigue. About Elisha and Daniel. I know in my heart that Angels exist. Once on a camping trip to a revolutionary war fort, 3 scouts didn’t want to do the evening ghost tour,  I volunteered to sit it out with them. I said in comfort to them that I don’t believe in ghosts, but I DO BELIEVE IN ANGELS. 

Oh I can picture them. Can you? Angels cushioning car accident damage, shielding children, calming moments, stirring up Spirit flows… sitting with dying friends… lifting up the hurt, the scared, the hopeful, the believers, the maybe-ers, the lost.

I saw this little girl, maybe 3, reticent to get on the beach from the boardwalk, her sweet family cajoled her, with trinkets and reassurance. We as strangers walking by (and 2 moms ourselves) started working together in the goal of helping. What a live action mini-moment that must be played out by angel armies constantly, daily, again and again helping motivate, people-move, and prevent meltdowns. 

A sweet boy I know, my former pastor’s grandson, and his classmates were sleeping in a daycare building when a car ran into the room. How could there not have been ARMIES OF ANGELS taking the brunt of the force. They are all fine now. Wow. 

WOW.

I can imagine. I want to believe. I ask to know and see, but I am OK with just believing. 

Prophet Elisha SAW God’s Chariots of Fire, His Angel Armies. Oh what a movie moment, wow, can you even picture the scene? In 2 Kings, Elisha prophesies led to actual visualizations of the ever-present surrounding angels, a spirit realm ready to go all out for God’s Kingdom purposes. (Scripture below). And because Elisha understood the immense protection he had by these warrior angels, he could step out in faith, he was able to not only remain calm, prevent his own death and those of his servant but also stop the impending battle, save those Israelites AND send the invading Arameans army home without killing them. 

Another battle time, it was the SOUND of ANGELS ARMIES: “the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!”  So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.”

The attacking army left because they heard what God needed them to hear. The faithful servant and prophet saw what God needed them to see to have peace. I believe that. Can we also ask today proactively step out in faith? Can we trust in His protection, process our blessings, and put them to use for God’s purposes?

Perhaps. Maybe. Yes! 

In my looking at the angel face of the little boy, who was in the daycare, how could I not believe in an angel save, a save when no one knew in advance to ask. Prayers that are prevenient always help and Angels are readied for just these times. Therefore going into our futures, can we also ask, in advance, for guidance and protection? How much more peace we would have if we ALREADY knew we were walking into places where Angels set up shop.

Like Prophet Daniel in the Old Testament, we must wait for intervention because our war is in the spiritual realm. We must trust and let the angels focus on fighting the right battles. Daniel’s saving angel was rescued by angel Michael. Oh the battles for us, our souls and His plan, are just as intense. 

Let’s step out in faith knowing that these battles however fierce are not ours to bear, step out in faith to know and to show the war that the battle is already won.

Angel Armies are our Amen. 

Amen Amen 

Amen

—–

Scriptures:

Elisha Traps Blinded Arameans 2 Kings 6

8 Now the king of Aram was at war with Israel. After conferring with his officers, he said, “I will set up my camp in such and such a place.”

9 The man of God sent word to the king of Israel: “Beware of passing that place, because the Arameans are going down there.” 10 So the king of Israel checked on the place indicated by the man of God. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.

11 This enraged the king of Aram. He summoned his officers and demanded of them, “Tell me! Which of us is on the side of the king of Israel?”

12 “None of us, my lord the king,” said one of his officers, “but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the very words you speak in your bedroom.”

13 “Go, find out where he is,” the king ordered, “so I can send men and capture him.” The report came back: “He is in Dothan.” 14 Then he sent horses and chariots and a strong force there. They went by night and surrounded the city.

15 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked.

16 “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”

17 And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see.” Then the Lord opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

18 As the enemy came down toward him, Elisha prayed to the Lord, “Strike this army with blindness.” So he struck them with blindness, as Elisha had asked.

19 Elisha told them, “This is not the road and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will lead you to the man you are looking for.” And he led them to Samaria.

20 After they entered the city, Elisha said, “Lord, open the eyes of these men so they can see.” Then the Lord opened their eyes and they looked, and there they were, inside Samaria.

21 When the king of Israel saw them, he asked Elisha, “Shall I kill them, my father? Shall I kill them?”

22 “Do not kill them,” he answered. “Would you kill those you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them so that they may eat and drink and then go back to their master.” 23 So he prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. So the bands from Aram stopped raiding Israel’s territory.

—-

From 2 Kings7

Now there were four men with leprosy at the entrance of the city gate. They said to each other, “Why stay here until we die? 4 If we say, ‘We’ll go into the city’—the famine is there, and we will die. And if we stay here, we will die. So let’s go over to the camp of the Arameans and surrender. If they spare us, we live; if they kill us, then we die.”

5 At dusk they got up and went to the camp of the Arameans. When they reached the edge of the camp, no one was there, 6 for the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots and horses and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel has hired the Hittite and Egyptian kings to attack us!” 7 So they got up and fled in the dusk and abandoned their tents and their horses and donkeys. They left the camp as it was and ran for their lives.

I can’t help mentally sing the song: “Love the one you’re with!” thinking about our Covid era. Yes…

Some families can’t see their families now, but they can see their neighbors. Some can’t wait to get home from work to see family and now some can’t wait to get back to work to see work folks.  Some really want to be at work to feel normalcy and some want to be at work to make sure they are not forgotten…

Are we forgotten? Not by God. Never is He not thinking of us with love. Are we forgetful? He is always looking for us to remember Him.

Do we love? We are commanded by our Lord to “love the ones we’re with”… AGAPE love… AND love strangers AND love neighbors AND love enemies. “And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?” Matthew 5:47

If a widow offers her last coins to the church (Mark 12), surely we can offer our LOVE, which comes in excess to us. God is love, and love keeps giving.

If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. Matthew 5:41-42

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 1 John 4:7

Can we go the extra mile today?

Can we love the one we’re with?

God does, He is love. And love will prevail.

God’s LOVE loves all.

Amen

---

Love the One Your With song versions:

1971 Stephen Stills

1971 Isley Brothers

1971 Aretha Franklin

There’s no doubt in my heart that our ingrained spirits LOVE to smile. Baby oh baby, I live and love to smile too… I smiled with a giggly baby today, 9 months old, in the store, oh cuteness… Mom says the baby KNOWS when people are smiling no matter if they have their masks on or not.  Let me say that again: even with a hidden smile, this baby knows when you are smiling! Oh baby!

The Smiling Spirit Shares Sweet Spirit Smiles!!!

Oh Spirit!

I do smile with my eyes, but oh so much more uplifting is when we can smile through our spirits… and who are we to stop the Spirit from Smiling? Are we to stop the Spirit from moving? Are we to stop Sweet Shining? 

Isn’t it so amazing… isn’t it SO Holy Spirit… isn’t it so sweet…

Smile baby Smile…

Spirit Flow Spirit...

Smiles 

Because I know that Jesus heals, and am a witness to many healings physically and emotionally, I must praise His healing to our brokenness. Spiritual brokenness is real and only bridged by the bridge builder Jesus. We are to continually look towards Him to heal the scattered parts of our soul. I know He wants us WHOLE.

It is because of Brokenness that we need Jesus, and as God’s love always overcomes brokenness, Jesus’s repair stitches us INTO His Net. His love heals our broken connection. Love gives and IS a net gain of infinite strength. Jesus repairs despair. 

Risen Jesus, on the shore of Galilee, called to the boat of fishing disciples in the sea, fishing for fish like the old days but in new times: “Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn.”

The NET was NOT torn, oh how true that Jesus and God’s love is an UNBROKEN NET. Once we have been caught by Jesus, we may fall out of the boat on occasion and we certainly ARE big fish that thrash about, but we will NOT fall out of the unbroken net, for Jesus and God thru the Holy Spirit LOVES to rescue us, pull us in. Their love holds us in. The Savior saves the day. A strong net that will never tear. Their net is always stronger than how evil may fish for you.

After their meal of fish, fish newly caught from the boat as well as some already cooked by Jesus, our flawed friend Peter was specifically called out and reconciled by the Lord. Around the fire, these memories of Peter’s three denials just a few days earlier must have been so strong, those denials to curious crowds that Peter was Jesus’s confidant. 3 denials, 3 crows of the rooster. We now see Peter being readied by Jesus’s mercy to be returned to ministry, to be given a clear and all-encompassing mission as leader to his fellow disciples and all… Peter will even learn about his own future death at old age, but most importantly Peter will learn that despite His shortcomings, He is STILL loved and needed. 

Oh, the GIFT of forgiveness. The knowledge of acceptance. Jesus knows Peter needs this. Peter knows He needs this too.

“Do you love me?” 

“Do you love me?”

“Do you love me?”  

Jesus questions Peter three times with the same question, Peter pleads his love three times, then Jesus answers three times with an all-encompassing meaning, ALL based on ONE command: “FEED MY SHEEP”.

Peter is now us, we are now Peter. All repurposed to original purpose. Restored to be repaired and keep being repaired. All called to strengthen our brothers. If we are surprised by God desiring our repair, we shouldn’t be because it is because of each person’s unique brokenness that God COULD repair each person uniquely. And then the witness of our healing as a sign to all that God heals. As Romans 8:28-29 (a repeated scripture for me this week) avows: “we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”

In my brokenness, I saw the light of the Lord looking for me.

Brokenness is NOT broken nets, the Lord’s net will hold you. Brokenness of human righteousness allows for Jesus to break curses that stop you, break chains that bind you. Jesus is remembered in broken bread – which is only shareable when broken. Broken souls are for healing.

Brokenness is NOT broken love, God is Love. Brokenness IS breaking blockades, breaking blinders, breaking cycles of sins, breaking pride. Broken souls are for healing. 

Because we have denied Jesus in the past, His LOVE given for reconciling us has been Affirmed. And Reaffirmed. 

Because of weakness in us, we have become restorable using His Strength.

Because we were lost, we have been Found. 

Because we have hungered, we have been Fed.

Because of Jesus, we are One with Him.

Because of brokenness, we are made WHOLE. 

Because Jesus reinstates us, like Peter, we are wholly His.

Amen 

——-

Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish (John 21)

Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together.  “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”

“No,” they answered.

He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.” So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. 

Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

Jesus Reinstates Peter:  When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?”

“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I love you.”     Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”

Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”   Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.”

The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”

Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I love you.”

Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.”

I was sitting in gridlock this morning at a Dunkin Donuts and how  amazing that we all can be stuck in the midst of extravagant excess. This is not a line at a gas crisis but for coffee and egg sandwiches we actually could make at home for pennies on the dollar. No coffee for me but for my son, I always get his favorite egg wraps. We do get stuck in our routines, our plan, our excess. Sometimes stripping all fluff away, removing our burdens of busyness,  we could actually see the road laid down for us to traverse and find our way, if only we would choose to see… When we are disconnected, if only we at least know WHOM to ask. We need to Connect thru Christ. We need to try to connect Him to the disconnected in our lives. We could wait for our Faith Fuel but we don’t have to, He has no line and no waiting!!!

Sometimes we are so worried about ourselves that we forget we are part of a whole ONE body in Christ… We are on this journey together and yet some people have forgotten to pack their maps, some people were left at home, and some people think we’re done and already at our destination… 

The truth is we still have others to reach, fill their emotional tanks with fuel, draw out new versions of maps to a God who is unchanging. We can point in the way of the WAY. Jesus has already laid out the map but we need our GPS “God Positioning System” to Jesus… Paper-based maps work – electronic maps work – people whispering down the lane works.  A trail not of breadcrumbs but planted seeds works. And combined with the internal navigation thru Jesus and the Spirit, we hope to read the signs of the times…

Jesus asked our Heavenly Father, God Almighty, to designate an Advocate. He back-filled the position, to entrust our journeys to the Holy Spirit. He also left detailed maps in the Word, and inspired blessed mapmaker scribes. We continue to be living scribes, witnesses of Him saving our lives.

So what about this trust, this unknown found in disconnected folks and often us? Can we ask for directions? Often we are not knowing where to look, or even where to start, so let’s simply hop right into the journey, start now to walk more closely knowing the Light of the World IS Jesus. Just ask Him to turn on the Light even BRIGHTER for you to see. 

Jesus laid down His life, surely He can lay out a path. It doesn’t matter where we start as long as we know Jesus already finished. In our time on earth, we just have to finish our jobs to spread out these maps of the Way to all corners of the globe… that’s sharing the good news… CONNECT with Jesus for Jesus.  Connect with all – for all. 

Jesus, please strip away our clouded views and self-righteous empowerment and our fuzziness of focus. Remove our disconnect from YOU and each other… Connect us, so we shine YOU thru us…

Help us keep journeying. Fill in our map gaps. Fuel our faith… Shine on…

Amen 

I just looked at this set of beach sunrise photos now and OH WOW that IS a BIG “I” the Lord has!!!… not “eye” as in eyeball but “I” as in the Lord saying: “I AM”.

The Sun and my cellphone camera may have made an optical illusion of sunshine so bright on the horizon, a perfectly framed glowing eyeball shape, but there is no denying that God is so much bigger than THAT. Not external from us but integral – Him in us and us in Him. God is bigger than our thoughts of Him, God is watching everything, but NOT from afar, because God’s I is not an eye to see but an I to BE, a LOVE to KNOW, and a LOVE in us to GROW. 

God had a promise to keep and give, by giving forgiveness thru Jesus to us. With Jesus asking Our Father for the Holy Spirit to lift us and move us.

John spoke of the Lord saying: HE is the Alpha and the Omega (Revelation 1,22). Jesus took human form then He then spoke of Himself being appointed by the Father, although not equal to the Father, still One with the Father (John 10)… 

Prophesized and Planned, Jesus Was and most importantly Jesus IS.

Jesus said “I AM”

We also can say: “I AM”:

I AM HEALING

I AM HIS

I AM A CHILD OF GOD

I AM FOREVER YOURS

I AM A SINNER

I AM A SALVATION SEEKER

I AM A SOUL

I AM SAVED

I AM SATISFIED IN CHRIST

YOU LORD, ARE THE “I AM” THAT WE SEEK.

AMEN

——-

The seven I AM statements of Jesus (gathered on google)

1) I Am the Bread of Life.
2) I Am the Light of the World.
3) I Am the door or gate

4) I Am the Good Shepherd.
5) I Am the Resurrection, and the Life.
6) I Am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
7) I Am the True Vine.

——

Ninety “I AM” statements in scripture that we can speak at: http://www.risenking.org/Resources/90_Statements.pdf

——-

Romans 8:10-18, 28-29

But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you. Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.

For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.  The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.

—–

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.  And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

The sunset was pink, one of the most beautiful – but by the time I got outside it had changed to golden, and I missed my photo of the picture perfect provision of pink. Golden was my consolation prize. That’s pretty good too, huh? Captivated. 

Isn’t that life? We have paths of consolation by looking for the light. We have hope in consolidated lives, all found in the Lord. 

Life is short, yes, we miss things, we miss a lot – but if we keep looking for the LIGHT, at least we will have direction. I don’t think anybody’s life is perfect. I don’t think anybody could say they wouldn’t change something. In my heart I know there’s a consolation prize for us always looking into His direction. We don’t always see it immediately, but surely it is there.There’s a captured feeling that captivates me. In Him, there’s always possibilities to open, there’s always answers to questions (if we ask the right questions), and there’s always more questions to ask. Better yet, there’s more than just pat answers for us, there is soaking in His presence for all. 

A fellow walker just now smiled while walking by and said “enjoy your night”. Yes, I am. See, it’s STILL summer, there are STILL summer bugs so loud, I’m still ALIVE… and I have direction… And a ladybug just now landed on me. I have been found. 

Found and I am captivated but it is because I am CAPTURED, really, and I now work for the Lord. What about you? I work for the One who never overlooks us, who looked for me forever, who found me knowing I would look for Him at this very moment, every moment. For in God, each MOMENT can feel like FOREVER and each FOREVER a MOMENT. Today, right now? He gave me THIS moment…

And golden sunsets… 

No, the Lord won’t always have to put pink or gold in our eyes, He won’t ever need flashing lights or fuzzy glows to captivate us. He won’t need light in our eyes but He will LIGHT our souls to shine us towards Him. He simply lights up life with love. Securely, He gives us longing and belonging…  

So, direction for me is going to be different than direction for you, but the rescue in His reach is always universal. The unifying force of love is love. The mystery is the mystery, but He never wants us guessing, only listening. Only listening to Him. Looking for Him. 

He needs us to think: Knowing He’s there. Knowing He’s here.

He needs us to love: Knowing He’s there. Knowing He’s here.

He gives us life to live:  Knowing He’s there. Knowing He’s here.

There is no Godly golden sunset picture tonight, because He can not be captured, only we can be captivated and captured, captured by Him. 

Capture. Captivate. Don’t let go. 

Captivate us all Lord. 

Amen

I decided to return the favor. I had a moment at the local 911 memorial, sitting on the bench and I left a note painted on a blue rock. “For He Gave His Son. John 3:16”. Oh Lord, you gave a Labor FOR Love. A Labor for Mary to birth Jesus. A Labor of the Lord Jesus to birth a plan with You the Father to birth the church. A Labor of Love to toil and work in being a human as God for 3 years on earth. A Labor of Love to bring us all to You. We Labor too, because of Your Favor.

That the Holy Spirit gave us such favor, it is a partial favor that I returned today, placing this painted rock on a bench, because on the day, Sunday 01FEB2015, when I knew I had awakened 100% to Jesus in me, I was at a 911 memorial garden and I flipped over a coin to read John 3:16. What amazing confirmation and reconfirmation of the Holy Spirit moving me to accept Jesus, of believing in Him, thru Him, with Him 100%. I knew that day that I knew that as Truth. For He gave His Son for us all. Really God did. And Jesus labored to tell us all about God and about Himself, how He is given us by God’s direction and how now the Spirit is His advocate. For Jesus, this is a Labor for Love. That day, after months of God making me reborn, I learned and I understood. Not everyone does, actually many are lost or stuck in their own pre-born-again cold labor. For Jesus, this is a Labor For Love.

Fittingly this is Labor Day weekend, I have the rarest of rarities, I have time to think… time to read… time to be… Tomorrow I will plan to get to the beach. Today I tidied up my chores, picking goodies in my garden, cooked, ran loads of dishes and laundry. Now I can sit, but instead I am floating. I’m blessed to be on a dock, a boat launch, down the road from wildlife preserves. No one seems to mind me being here with no boat. I am reading and I am writing. I am floating in LOVE. My blessing of a calling is these writings then cataloging, posting and printing of 900 plus blogs. I don’t need a following but Jesus does. I need to Labor for Love for Jesus said so, and I know so. It’s a calling,  but getting Jesus to everyone is more than I could ever share, it is team effort. Jesus has to be born within each person. Each follower becomes reborn in Christ. If you don’t know what that means, it means Jesus’s Labor for Love is for you too. You don’t have to go thru another physical labor to be born of the Spirit, but you have to acknowledge Christ’s Labor for Love. You must be born again – and you won’t know how that feels until you are.

Next, my mini labor for the day, after visiting the 911 memorial, I placed one of my blog business cards out in public. I placed a purple “LOVE” rock with a card at a takeout place. I also placed one at the grocery story today, that is not easy for me even secretly to be bold. It’s time for me to get over my shyness of sharing more openly. I pray the Holy Spirit to brush off my dust and for me to embrace His Ways.  That’s part of my Labor for Him – my Labor, His Love…

I’m returning the favor, Labor FOR Love.

Amen 

“You have set our iniquities – in the LIGHT of Your presence” – from Psalm 90. WOW, can you even imagine the immense presence of God?  Can you imagine how intensely stunning and powerful God is? NOTHING could compare to “the favor of the Lord our God on us”.

Oh, it struck me so strongly tonight, listening to Psalm 90 read outloud, that NOTHING we have EVER  DONE or NOT EVEN DONE could even think to compare to the PRESENCE, the POWER, the PEACE of God. Nothing we have done or not done can negate the place of us NEXT to God. We forget, but He has us. We think that we are lost, but NOTHING is impossible with God. No one in Jesus is lost. Before You Lord, we are washed clean. 

Moses prayed this prayer in Psalm 90 and he was one who actually spoke to God. God allowed Moses to see Him pass by and hear Him. God Himself took care of Moses. God takes care of us all. He is our dwelling place. 

God Himself planned for us to have Jesus as our forgiveness in Grace. NOTHING can change the immense love of Jesus who will stand with us in front of God. NOTHING can separate us from Jesus. Our iniquities are gone. Our iniquities are forgiven. Our iniquities, and when we are thinking we fall short, are not even a small disturbance in the dust compared to the GLORY of God. 

The time we have on earth, or time we don’t, is a blink of time in comparison to the infinite time we have in God. The glory of God has gathered us, His GRACE is given, not to be taken or earned, but given because of God’s EXTRAVAGANT nature. 

And because our time is His, we pray that He “establish the work of our hands for us” – yes, establish the work of our hands. Pray for the Lord to make your days purposeful and strengthened and SATISFIED. How could we not look to Him, His Amazing Grace, for He is above all. He knows where we all truly belong: DWELLING WITH HIM.

Our iniquities compared to Him not judging us are gone. Everlasting to everlasting, our forever life is in You Lord, because You won’t let anything separate us from You. 

Amen 

—-

Psalm 90

A prayer of Moses the man of God.

1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place  throughout all generations.

2 Before the mountains were born  or you brought forth the whole world,

    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

3 You turn people back to dust, saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”

4 A thousand years in your sight are like a day that has just gone by, or like a watch in the night.

5 Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death — they are like the new grass of the morning: 6 In the morning it springs up new, but by evening it is dry and withered.

7 We are consumed by your anger and terrified by your indignation.

8 You have set our iniquities before YOU, our secret sins in the light of YOUR presence.

9 All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan.

10 Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures;

yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

11 If only we knew the power of your anger! Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.

12 Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

13 Relent, Lord! How long will it be?  Have compassion on your servants.

14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.

15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble.

16 May your deeds be shown to your servants, your splendor to their children.

17 May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us – yes, establish the work of our hands.

‐—-

Music of Psalm 90

“When the sun comes up, satisfy us with Your Love.”

PSALM 90 | Shane & Shane” on YouTube

Great video, to watch Jonah and about the extravagant love of God: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLIabZc0O4c 

That same theme – God decides that His people are worth it….   I really liked the Jonah Sight and Sound version as well, which I recently watched on video…

On YouTube, the Bible Project, is neat. It’s like a story book drawn from the scripture but spoken for a lot of info to be presented at the same time…

I just happened to see it while searching for info about Jonah. The kids books are not as in depth as this video… God’s message always comes with a lifetime of learning. 

The take home message (there are many) is Jonah, as a prophet, was told to go to a certain place, Nineveh, but he DIDN’T want to go… then he ran away on a ship towards a different place but there was a giant storm and he ended up making the sailors toss him overboard, he realized that running away from God was making God chase after him... in the sea, he got swallowed by a whale, he lives 3 days in the belly! When Jonah told God “OK I will do whatever you tell me to do”,  the whale spit him out onto the land of the place where the Lord want him to go originally, Nineveh…

In this place,  Nineveh, Jonah thought he could just tell them the Lord’s message, that they would be overturned in 40 days and just be done with it, then he travelled outside of town to camp and watch the destruction (popcorn anyone?)… but it turns out the people started to repent, the wicked people LISTENED wow, turned away from evil and listened to God, so God decided to spare them. Jonah was mad again! He wanted God to destroy the wicked people and here God showed them forgiveness, isn’t that fitting for God to be GRACE-giving. God is an extravagant generous forgiving loving God…. He is… Jesus tried to tell the world this… 

In the desert, Jonah got a small dose of relief from the sun’s heat by God growing a tree,  just for Jonah, that grew rapidly to give him shade, and then God sent a worm to destroy the tree. Jonah was upset, he loved the shade of the tree. Then God essentially said: “look, if you loved the tree so much, then why can’t I love and forgive all the sinners and spare their lives, and the lives of their cattle too???!!!. I’m God and I can choose to LOVE and FORGIVE.”

It’s a double lesson that even though we may have enemies, God loves them. We can’t wish evil on them, we are to leave them in God’s hands. We are to love our enemies and even tell them that they are loved by God. 

And of course the lesson that God has a mission for us, whether we like it or not, we are to go where God needs us.  He will even use storms in our lives to bring us there. And He will send us love and forgive us for our actions and thoughts, extravagantly. He loves us and first asks for our love in return. God loves all, we are all important to Him.

 That’s my take on Jonah and the whale, in a nutshell…

God in a God-shell is:

LOVE FORGIVENESS MERCY HOPE FREEDOM OF LIFE, AMD MORE….

GOD DOES NOT FIT IN A NUTSHELL!!!

God decides that His people are worth it…   That same theme occurs over and over with God, and between God and us.

I suggest a great video, to watch the story of Jonah and about the extravagant love of God:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLIabZc0O4c  “The Bible Project”, is really a neat way to present the Bible. The kid’s books about Jonah are not as in depth as this video… God’s message always comes with a lifetime of learning when studied at all ages. This video is like a story book drawn from the scripture but spoken, a lot of info presented at the same time. (I really liked the Jonah Sight and Sound live musical play version as well…)

The Jonah story take home message (and there are many) is that Jonah, as a prophet, was told to go to a certain place to deliver a message from God, Nineveh, but he DIDN’T want to go… so he ran away on a ship headed towards a different place. There was a giant storm and he ended up making the sailors toss him overboard to save their ship (the soldiers quickly believed in God’s power). Jonah realized  that running away from God was making God chase after him... in the sea, he got swallowed by a whale, he lived 3 days in the belly! When Jonah had that time to think it over, he then told God “OK I will do whatever you tell me to do”, so the whale spit him out onto the land of the one place where the Lord want him to go originally, Nineveh…

In this place,  Nineveh, Jonah thought he could just tell them the Lord’s message, that they would be overturned in 40 days and just be done with it, then went outside of town to watch destruction… but it turns out the people started to repent, the wicked people LISTENED wow, turned away from evil and listened to God, so God decided to spare them. Jonah was mad again! He wanted God to destroy the wicked people and here God showed them forgiveness, isn’t that fitting for God to be GRACE-giving. God is an extravagant generous forgiving loving God…. He is… Jesus tried to tell the world this… Jesus, thru death and resurrection, became the solution to God’s desire to bring all His children back into His Grace.

In the desert, Jonah got a small dose of relief from the hot sun by God growing a tree, just for Jonah, that grew rapidly to give him shade, and then God sent a worm to destroy the tree. Jonah was upset, he loved the shade of the tree. Then God essentially said: “look, if you loved the tree so much, then why can’t I love and forgive all the sinners and spare their lives, and the lives of their cattle too???!!!. I’m God and I can choose to LOVE and FORGIVE.”

It’s a double lesson: even if we have enemies, God loves all. We can’t wish evil on them, we are to leave them in God’s hands. We are to love our enemies and even tell them that they are loved by God. 

And of course the lesson that God has a mission for us, whether we like it or not, we are to go where God needs us.  He will even use storms in our lives to bring us there. And He will send us love and forgive us for our actions and thoughts, extravagantly. He loves us and first asks for our love in return. God loves all, we are all important to Him.

That’s my take on Jonah and the whale, in a nutshell…

God in a God-shell is LOVE FORGIVENESS MERCY HOPE FREEDOM OF LIFE, AND MORE…. GOD DOES NOT FIT IN A NUTSHELL!!!

We wonder how to serve the Lord. The Lord says “Let me figure that out for you!”

Our purpose in life is to LOVE God, and LOVE all His people.

Our promise in life can be to do our best to serve God, which helps Him Save His people. Our how? Use the gifts He gave us. Simple. Sacred. Spirit-driven.

Do you know that you DO HELP, just by praying? You do. Do you know that you do help by using your gifts? You do. …  because God does.

I made a promise to serve many years ago as a Girl Scout. Whether I understood that or not at the time, I always knew that God was in charge and that people needed help. I have continually converged those thoughts and continually wondered how I can help. 

Many promise to do their best to serve God, which helps Him Save His people.

A promise I made to God, which I was reminded of this morning looking at my 40-year old girl scout wood plaque, is a re-promise today in a pledge:

“Oh my honor I will try: To serve God, my country and mankind, and to live by the Girl Scout Law.”

Yes, to serve, to do our best, to let Him pick our plan.

SO…..  this is the message for this musing (to myself and to all):

Be inspired and be inspiring.

Be purposeful for God and be purposed by God.

Be promise-keeping and be aware of any opportunity to share His Promise of Salvation made to mankind.

Be at His calling and call unto Him.

Be useful to God and acknowledge the gifts He gave you.

Be sure to simply do you best.

Simple. Sacred. Spirit-driven.  

 Amen

Sometimes I feel I never do enough. Sometimes too much. Maybe we all just aren’t perfect, are we?… I’m not. Who is?

Only Jesus. 

Need to choose focus?   Jesus.   Perfect!

Want to go to Heaven?   Jesus.   Perfect!

Need guidance?   Jesus.   Perfect!

Want to live with no fear?   Jesus.   Perfect!

Need comfort?   Jesus.   Perfect!

Want to lighten your burdens?   Jesus.   Perfect!

Want to know God?

Want to know yourself?

Want to understand life?

Jesus   Jesus   Jesus 

Whose been frustrated like us?   Jesus 

Whose been sad like us?   Jesus 

Whose been betrayed?   Jesus 

Whose been misunderstood?   Jesus 

Whose understands our JOY?   Jesus 

Who knows our HOPES?   Jesus 

Who sorts out good and bad in life?   Jesus 

Who forgives you before you do?   Jesus 

Perfect provisions for saving. 

Perfect plan for purpose. 

Perfect man, lamb, servant, Spirit, God.

Perfect.

Jesus. 

Jesus is Enough. 

Amen 

It’s Truth, that our love for Jesus comes from knowing Him as Truth, comes from one mind within the Spirit.

If only we did not bicker about everything else. It’s so painful to watch derision. Bickering from our mouths prevents praises which should be coming out instead. Complaining prevents compliments. Curses prevent blessings. Worldly opinions prevent Heavenly truths from being shared. We are to teach and reach. Tell all that even if we live so humanly in the world, we are to look for LOVE and be a part of the LOVE to share. Life tarnishes but Love shines. No wonder the Lord keeps wanting us to look for Him, then we would be focused, glow love, and just imagine what would fade away. 

We believe in Jesus because that is Spiritual Truth, not because that is an opinion. We don’t have to crack knees to teach that, every knee will bow to Jesus as Lord because God Himself has raised Jesus to be praised. We do need to share and shine the same LOVE regardless of our affiliation with anything earthly. We must keep spreading the Good News of Jesus, because LOVE comes from God.

Love is the Way, because Jesus is the Way. Love is our rainbow in the storm when we look to the Light, Love is our rainbow to shine from within. 

There’s something about seeing a rainbow when there is no rain. When I looked, only enough rain from one cloud was present to make one intense rainbow in the distance, while I drove through sunshine yesterday. Remember that dark days are always followed by light. I think that rainbow must have been placed by angels for someone who just came out of a storm. I pray all will see the glory of the Lord. I pray that those recipients of the storms also stayed faithful enough during it to keep looking towards the Light, the Lord, the Future.  To see any rainbow, you still need to choose to look outside, look forward with the sun to your back, and look with forgiveness to the past, yours and others… 

Love is our rainbow in the storm when we look to the Light, Love is our rainbow to shine from within. 

In life, Jesus became like us to become a servant. If we are to be Jesus like, we are to serve one another, not some, not ourselves, but all. We are to have and share the same love. If we are to LIVE life, and LOVE in Spirit and in Truth, then we must become servant-minded. If we are to share Jesus and be Jesus-like, acknowledging Jesus Christ as Lord, then our service will be to the glory of God the Father. Servants shine because Love shines.

Love Shines. 

Share Love. 

Amen

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Paul to the Phillipians 2

Imitating Christ’s Humility

Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man,  he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Do Everything Without Grumbling

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, “children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.” Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor in vain.

I appreciate that this year we have been put in a new navigation thru life, it is tough to some, no different to others, should be opportunity for many. Every day is an opportunity. Just change your perspective.  It may shock us at times, by what is happening, but actually and probably that’s because many of us have ALREADY been living such a blessed life. That’s truth for anyone who counts their blessings. 

I imagine those old time cartoons of the city mouse moving to the country and the country mouse or cat or person moving to the city. Gives them a new view. Everyone has their own perspective. Everyone looks for familiarity. Everyone is shocked at how the others in the world live. Imagine someone else from perhaps a third world coming to live your life, would they feel privileged? Ready to seize the opportunity? Amazed? I always say a bad day here is still probably better than a good day in impoverished places.

In those new drone videos you can look at the landscapes and life from a new perspective, the air, but isn’t it amazing that we tend to look for the familiar landmarks. Ride a hot air balloon and you look for people and places. In all, life too, we look for what we know.

How fitting for new life in the Spirit that we do that too. But now we ALSO are not to worry about unknowns. Look for the familiar, yes, and then, with a new life in the Lord, look thru His perspective when you think to stop looking thru your own. Look to be amazed. Look to be challenged. Look thru Spirit Perspective and Spirit Focus.

Imagine how you could and would change perspective. Would you feel privileged to now know you are living thru the Word? Would you feel driven? You bet. Would you feel compassion or comfortable? Not comfortable. Ready to seize the opportunity or rest? Not rest. Except resting assured. 

Would you feel ready? The Spirit in you has always been ready, willing, able… just waiting for you to catch up, to gain a good perspective. A Spirit Perspective from above, the whole world looks whole only when the Spirit fills in the gaps. A Spirit Perspective from inside, where you are crucial to the wholeness of not the world but the Way. You are Spirit Flow the world needs to know.  The Spirit desires to help the children of God achieve where the world needs to go.

Would you feel amazed? Be AMAZED.

Go with your Spirit Flow.

Amen 

—-

Jesus said: “But more than anything else, put God’s work first and do what he wants. Then the other things will be yours as well…..

Don’t worry about tomorrow. It will take care of itself. You have enough to worry about today.” Matthew 6:33-34

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:13-16

Office Use Only, God’s Office

Yeah, my brain and my time has relaxed after my marathon sprint last week – my son’s wisdom teeth surgery and my daughter’s move back to college. “WHEW” cannot describe this feeling – and to catch up on sleep, oh Blessed.

Oh, so Blessed that EVERY MORNING the Lord wakes us up and prepares us for a new day. Today I can work from home – sitting outside – I knew that I had the opportunity to enjoy the last bits of summer – so today I knew that I was blessed to even be alive. After my morning 7am walk, I started the ping-pong session of the thousand things I wanted to accomplish around the house and then to sit down and work at work-work. I did get a lot done – and I then got the call – a call to help someone in need – yes time to switch gears, to help, to work on God’s time. Was it cutting into my non work-work free time? Well, NO because ALL time is all GOD’S time. I knew that I was to go, how could I not toe the line, in wait for His instructions, because we are ALWAYS working on God’s Dime and in His Time.

And it all worked out, all is OK. While I was later standing in the dollar store, passing the time waiting for my friend, sure enough there was a sign – always a sign – a God sign. Today’s sign said “Office Use Only”. Say What? God’s Office, our ultimate Home Office, is in charge of our time. This was a true sign, physical paper too, taped to a misplaced bucket of office supply stuff, left on a random shelf probably when the cashier was in a rush, this was a sign that reminded me that my time is not my time. I cannot rush my time, halt my time, be stingy with my time. My time is God’s time, ALL THE TIME. If I have misplaced myself in God’s Time, He will find me. Hunted down like Psalm 139 for sure.

If we plan something, well we need to work that out with prayer. How often does God work that out with us, knowing all will be fine? All the time. Remember James 4 for sure: Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

The Lord’s Will.

Let that sink in. We are blessed with time. Why? 

Sometimes we don’t seem to have enough time. Why?

We cannot make time. Why?

People need to spend time thru God’s blessing’s time. Why?

Because God Makes Time.

Why and how can we work for God? We already do, don’t even ask why.

Why and how can we ask God what He wants? We often don’t see that He has put the task to us before we even have to ask.

God’s Office requires us to leave space in our time for “Office use only” – to be in a movable place – a flexible space – allowing enough personal grace to be forgiving and realize His giving grace. We are best to set aside time for, and be willing to give back time to, the One Who Makes Time. 

It is ALL His Time. Give it to God and we will be fine.

Amen

Oh the scars we carry… scary scars, brutal scars, tiny bits of us disrupted and faded but not gone. Scars are reminders. But scars DON’T have to be open. No. The scars in your life, on your heart are now CLOSED. If it’s healed enough to be a scar, then it’s all healed from within,  it’s not open anymore. If it is a visible scar, you have a story to tell to anyone who is thirsting for knowledge of how the Lord heals

Heaven knows, Jesus understands your scars. Jesus has them too.

Yes, the One (whom Thomas doubted) showed His Scars to all, but not because He was still bleeding, or to cause alarm, but because the scars showed history, identity, and realness. Not because they were relevant anymore. Scars and all, JESUS WALKED ALIVE. Scars of past pain left behind, now present was PRESENCE. Jesus did NOT let His Scars keep Him from moving forward, neither should we. Jesus did NOT continue to bleed from His Scars, did NOT stay crumbled. Jesus Overcame. So can we. 

What scars represent is ACTUALLY precious healing, whether precise or haphazard these are repaired wounds, sometimes processing is long but truly these become closed cases. Scars remind you where you came from, identify what you HAD gone through, and are not corrupted with now. You should be able to look at a scar and remember that you HAVE healed. You ARE still you, a better you, a wiser you. You are a survivor, a Spirit-fed and Jesus-filled survivor. 

Jesus, He gained His scars to take away the pain and bleeding from ours. Jesus, He heals by deliverance, He is the Deliverer, your Deliverer, mine too. What scars I have, I remember but they no longer reverberate, Jesus silenced them from His Healing from deep within my soul.

Let your scars be. Walk Whole. 

Amen 

—-

A powerful song, My Deliverer, speaks of Jesus heard the whole  world cry, and He was knowing the healing that would flow from His Own Scars. He will never break His promise. 

Song by Richard Mullins, just before he passed, sung by Ragamuffins

Perfect time to watch Jonah online from the Sight and Sound theater, a free showing, amazing production. It is Sunday, I have finished a MARATHON of mom-life this week, between packing and moving my daughter to college and wisdom teeth surgery for my son, fully working too. It was raining this afternoon and so God gave me this as a good opportunity to just be. The story lines of Jonah resonated with me. Four short chapters, forever the bible has a lifetime of lessons. 

Jonah loved the Lord but did not want to do what God commanded. He did not want to go to Ninevah, a terrible place, so AFRAID to go, plus he really did not like the people either. Jonah ran away but God found a way to pull him back. Hurled into the sea off a boat, God scooped Jonah up inside a whale, then spit him to where he was supposed to be. Whale or no whale, God can be very persuasive. Have you ever been saved to be placed where God wanted you to be? Our best plan, like reluctant Jonah, is obedience to God. He’s got a mission for you, starting with accepting His LOVE. 

My kindle battery then ran out, mid-song. Apparently God also reminding me that I am NOT supposed to sit and watch movies all day, I recharged my kindle and my activities. The song the show stopped on was: “Everyone has a Ninevah, God gives you strength to go.” Yes. God’s plan is for us to act. This does not mean we are going to be a full-blown prophet like Jonah, nor that it will be easy to decipher God, or even make sense of the plans, but it is to His profit that we seek to serve Him for the people whom He puts in front of us. Enemies and friends alike. It always takes forgiveness for the full fruition of LOVE to flourish… Jonah learned that too.

God has made you very special AND very ordinary, BOTH, so that He shines thru your regular acts of kindness, hopeful smiles, and simple words… it might not be a whole country you need to help but a small country lane of folk. Not a donkey to ride, but anything driving you to a purpose. Perhaps a group of people whom you don’t know. Perhaps those whom only would hear the truth from your testimony, because they trust you. They may know it was God who reached them in a whale of a scoop and He had saved you too. Whomever, wherever, you just be ready to be you. Prepare for Journeys. Read the signs. Be willing to walk into His opportunities. 

It stopped raining but I didn’t run outside to see a rainbow, His glory is everywhere. I know to share that Jesus came as our guide, the promise, the Greater sign. As Jesus mentioned Himself, His message is greater than Jonah’s, Jesus IS the Prophecy fulfilled.

Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.” Jesus answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now something greater than Jonah is here. Matthew 12:38-42.

Jesus was the sign that some just didn’t read, some still don’t… blinded, stubborn, lost, unable to let their faith be their guide… OR like some on Ninevah, and today, they simply have not heard…. Jonah,  Moses and many prophets knew of the tough sell, we surely do too. Jonah was happy to obey God by delivering His message (Ninevah to be destroyed in 40 days) but then he got upset that they actually got rescued!

Jonah 3: And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

The best song in the play is “For now I’m free” – yes like for Ninevah,  it is our FAITH that sets us free.

Jonah was directed to speak prophecy, but it was FAITH that made the difference in the lives of the Nineveh folk. This was a surprise to Jonah (as portrayed in the play). Jonah was upset enough to die to see people so freed who had been so wicked.  But it wasn’t Jonah’s mercy to withhold, was it? God declares the plan. God gives mercy and only God. Mercy is not a given, it is a GIFT.

Jonah saw this LOVE firsthand. God, Almighty Powerful God finds a way to give mercy, just like when even sin’s ransom took giving His only Son for exchange to regain ALL His children. Only Jesus makes us worthy of this level of LOVE.

For us, we must remember and speak of this Mercy, our Jesus as the gift of forgiveness, the difference for saving all lives. We simply are saying the truth: I need Jesus and you need Him too. We find it not so simple to forgive enemies, rotting souls, ignorant ones, but we must. Like Jonah, we can be SURPRISED at the level of God’s Mercy, Love, Forgiveness. That IS the Truth. 

Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be angry?

God, our God of Love delivered the people and us: “Why wouldn’t I save, redeem, love?”

This is the Good News.

This Good News is ours to share. How can we not dare.

Amen

“Ranked #1 for student upward economic mobility” – that’s the banner on the main bell-tower quad at my daughter’s college. Upward Mobility is achievable, desirable and smart. In order to get this education for her, I’m not letting my own debt increase worry me – I have Upward Mentality (not upward mobility) – a mentality that is an overcoming sense of faith which rises over being overwhelmed by unknowns in the future. I’ve structured knowns best I can, the rest we trust in God. He has taken us “safe thus far”.

Upward Mentality

Credit counts also when we look at our forever, as our Lord has all the credit to take us farther, based on how He has brought us so far. Yes, our Upward Mentality is for our salvation. Yes we can salivate “forever life” because we are living on Jesus’s Credit. With Jesus,  our debts of sins are erased, our mobility is restored, our “only way to look is up”. Our faith is our ultimate Upward Mentality. 

I have faith and I have earthly reasoning and both tell me to keep moving,  keep planning, keep keeping on. When I am gone, I expect and count blessings that my children will keep moving up too.

I stepped into the college quad yesterday because I heard the bell tower. After successfully depositing my BEST investment into school, my daughter and her dreams, I was driving thru campus soaking in the moment. I parked my car and listened to the chiming. This is not my college bell tower, but hers. This is not my dream, but hers. My bell tower and campus were in totally different times, but these chimes and this adventure of opportunities feel the same. Upward Mobility and Upward Mentality.

Bells chime so that we know that time is moving on – not slipping away. Bells chime as simply a signal that we made it to today. We are still here. We are to chime too, ring out our hopes and dreams and find opportunities. JUST like the clock and the time, we can move forward. Just like the clock face, we reset not just once but twice a day, each new day has new beginnings.  

(We sometimes find ourselves doing the sad bell tolling too, having to acknowledge gloomy things around us. But we don’t have to dwell on the lows. We don’t have to stay stuck in time. Don’t dwell and don’t try to hold the arm of time from advancing.) 

We don’t know what tomorrow brings, but we CAN and SHOULD bring our best to tomorrow. Don’t dilly dally, tomorrow will be here before you know it. Be upwardly mental mobile movable. 

The best mountain for God to move is YOU! The best way to look is UP. The best sight to see is HOPE. 

Thank You Lord, for our lives – today and forever – we can strive to make the best as you ALREADY made the best possible. The best mentality is giving credit where credit is due.

Amen 

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Colossians 3:23-24 ESV
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.

Colossians 3:17 ESV 
And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Matthew 11:5-6 NIV

Jesus said “the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor.  Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”

28-30: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

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PS – a song I heard AFTER writing this is so fitting “Make a Way” by I AM THEY – about “You brought me this far, You will make a way!” SO TRUE!  https://youtu.be/yiTMPWG3C4M

I’m so proud of my daughter, today she goes back to college. 

What a GIFT it has been to watch her grow.

What a GIFT it has been to listen to her planning things where I would wing it.

What a GIFT it is that she’s such a smart cookie. 

What a GIFT that she was born 6 weeks early and opened up an early entry into kindergarten. 

What a GIFT it is that she with her roommates will navigate this new adventure together. 

What a GIFT that she is only an hour and a half away.

What a GIFT that her school is even opening and has a great plan. 

What a GIFT that she is not only a student, but also a work co-manager, a peer mentor, and on a professional society organization. 

What a GIFT that she’s making her own choices and living her own dreams and being able to venture out into the real world. 

What a GIFT that she’s prepared for cautious living in these times. 

What a GIFT that God has blessed her with a brain to think, a heart to love, a direction to follow. 

What a GIFT that I have to step back and let her navigate herself. 

What a GIFT that she will facetime me so I can peek into her future. 

What a GIFT that keeps on giving…

Go change the world my daughter. Actually You Already Have…

Love you!

Mom

2020

Maybe THIS is THAT Year

Maybe THIS is THAT year someone was supposed to have more time.

Maybe THIS is THAT year someone did NOT miss their child’s special birthday because of their work conference, the fair, the big game, the college reunion, or the VBS prep that DIDN’T happen. 

Maybe THIS is THAT year someone had more time at the lake, the cabin, their parents, their grandchildren’s house, their garden, their home.

Maybe THIS is THAT year someone learned new things, taught a youngster, wrote a book, tried to cook, cleaned out the garage, found a new job, wrote a song, made new adventures. 

Maybe THIS is THAT year someone smiled more, heard the birds, went outside, listened to the rain, fell in love, held a hand, touched a heart, took a moment to cry, sat quietly, learned to be OK with being alone. 

Maybe THIS is THAT year someone heard the Lord calling, reconciled their past, felt healed, forgave someone, was forgiven, met Jesus. 

Maybe God says: I have been waiting for you. This year was My Year to find you too.

Maybe THIS is THAT year for all these things, all those things, no one ever usually got around to do.

Maybe THIS is THAT year set aside for someone special, like you.

Maybe THIS is THAT year special things got arranged, just for you.

Enjoy this year. Life is a gift. 

2020 should give hindsight of how many ways God has blessed you.

Amen 

My Favorite Favorites, 20AUG

Scripture tells us we are not to show favoritism,  but that’s quite the human trait huh? It’s not exactly what James 2 means about favoritism but I just have to say that I am asking prayers for my favorite favorites who are my favorite iffy believers.  Honestly we are to love all. James writes that MERCY triumphs over judgment. We should be merciful. Pray loving forgiveness for those who need it and act appropriately humble because we need forgiveness too. I have been the one others prayed for. Let me appreciate that. I am also the one needing forgiveness and Jesus came. Thank God for Jesus. 

Our gracious Lord Jesus loves to show us love, so that we may know how to share it. Our Father will not weigh our wrongs, nor our original sin because of Jesus’s act in securing forgiveness thru salvation to all who affirm their need for Him. I need Jesus, how about you?

My favorite iffys – oh…. oh, they are in my prayers today – and I pray that they are not even iffy – I pray that what I have heard of their vows of God not existing, that they themselves doubt their doubtfulness, that they are leaving the opening to their ears and hearts cracked just enough to let Jesus in someday… a last minute save is still a save…. ah, I have my favorite favorites and I don’t want them to be left behind. I also want them to believe now, so they help open up the cracks in others hearts.

See everyone does have a level of faith,  deep down faith that bubbles out sometimes, they’ve buried it with too many burdens, sticks in the mud who have seen so many storms bury more mud on them that seemingly no one can find the stick anymore (but Jesus can). If you can wash away enough mud, be part of the solution, then try to get that stick exposed just enough to get a grip on it. Thru higher water pressure, Living Water presence, and angel forces surely the Heavens are working on the Way to move them from “stick in the mud” to “productive branch of the Father”, ready to bear fruit. Love is the only way. 

Perhaps your favorite favorites who are stick in the mud people can be unburied and NOT left out high and dry BUT protected, continually hydrated by the Spirit splashing off you so they won’t get cast as dry fruitless branches into the fire. (John 15) Let’s pray productive mud. Let’s keep mud moving. Today Lord, I ask Your love to be at work in freeing my favorite sticks in the mud. I will mentally name them, but you already know: ………….

Lord, let us look for cracks in the mud, let us keep digging for these favorites whom I know. You water, we will dig.

Lord, let me show Your love to all, for you know the ones whom I don’t know.

Lord, let me grow and flow because of Your flowing love and reach. Let me work for You and against all evil. Lord, protect us and protect our hearts as we fight for all to know You. 

Maybe as Your mud-bee I can help. I’ll be busy for Thee.

We are the hands and feet of the Lord. We send prayers for leveraging LOVE.

Amen

Social Creatures, 19AUG

If nothing else, I am the classic social creature – sanguine – I enjoy people. I am social.

With the craving of spiritual milk that overtook me 5 years ago, I am the same person and also a totally new person – with understanding that my socialization is not just for fun – it is for real, it is FOR serving the Lord, it is with purposeful intent. And I am a new person in contentment to sit or walk or be alone, for I am OK with just being with the Lord – socializing with the Spirit, mentally healing without speaking, yet still conversing. We tend to process life by talking. Well, who better to process life than with the One who created it!

Yesterday I spent the whole day for people at work – it is not something I can chart on a bar graph – nothing I can measure in widgets made – nothing but helping others – well I guess it was a GREAT day then. I helped in places, learned about projects, was even in charge of the ice cream truck and social distancing folks and tallying the bill, money well spent. I went to the other building and socialized with so many there too – it was good for me and it was good for them. Today is different, today I will be quiet at home for a while – work this morning on the laptop until my daughter wants to start the day – I promised her to take the afternoon off for her – the last day that she is free until computer-based and in person based college. With live college move-in day on Saturday she expects to stay in her bubble on campus for quite a while… so today I will take the time with her – that is not a social thing but as much it is a serious thing, a special thing, a sacred thing, a super thing, and a smart thing to do…  

I need to balance both… I had opportunity all week, a hectic good week. On Sunday, even God rested.

I know this sounds long winded without a scripture, so here it is:

“Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:39 

The LOVE of God is what keeps us going – the busy times the slow times – the everything times we are to listen to God – nothing in creation or anywhere will separate us from HIS LOVE that comes in reading faces, in listening to chatter that enforces our connectedness, in being present to being hospitable, to being nice. His Love comes in sorting thru thousands of places to be, people to see, but acknowledging One directing the situation. It seems many options to take are good ones – many roads weave thru our days – sometimes it is a minute by minute decision to follow the right one.

Hope everyone lives in the moment today. 

#910, 17AUG

All Things Work Together

A friend told me about this devotion series, and both yesterday’s and today’s are very good…  that God works things to the good and for us not to store of our treasures on Earth…

https://us3.campaign-archive.com/?u=5a7bbf443189708255b21f430&id=38ae291fb2

I like the points made in this devotion that we are being pruned we are being made to be like Jesus… And I believe that in the 5 months of this shutdown we should be more lean and more focused and more Christ like than 5 months prior…

So it’s a good time to take stock and say going forward 5 months from today: can I be leaner, more faith focused, and more Christ like??? Am I better than 5 months ago and can I be even better yet?

God prunes the branches like a Vinedresser, and the Vinedresser prunes his vines in winter when they are dormant… I was pruned in winter,  in my faith, then my flesh… it would be good to work with God today to get ready for the next few months and for the Kingdom to come…

It’s always good to be God-focused.

It’s God who is working all… to get all together…

God is working because God is. Amen

#909, 16AUG

Then I Called and Jesus Came

These were a start of song lyrics in my head when I woke up, so I wrote more…

#908, 14AUG

Daughter of THE King

I had an opportunity yesterday to shine – to be an encourager – to speak to 170 Human Resources and Communications leaders at my company – about a small slice of our science and about me, but most importantly I took the opportunity to thank them for doing their work. I knew it would make their day. I KNOW that the Lord gave me that opportunity – I tried to make the most of it for Him. and yes I had fun too, at the end I even put up my photo of when Elvis gave me a stolen kiss on my birthday at a work volunteer event at a nursing home, the king! But I know who THE REAL KING IS.  Someone called me a star for giving the presentation but it is He, our God, who aligns the stars. I believe that those people needed encouragement, so He found a way and made room in my day. Gave me the peace and the place. I even was forced to finish the presentation slides last week before the power went out only a few hours later, and stayed out for 4 days. He, our God, is the director, who knows, who goes ahead… if only we would listen more. He is the ultimate in making things work for His best interests… Even though the folks heaped their praises after the presentation, it is me who should be praising Him – He needed this – even the rocks will cry out if we do not praise Him. Give credit where credit is due. He deserves it all, and only Him.

Daughter of THE King, 14AUG

Why was I made the daughter of THE King? NOT because I need to show people my crown but instead to tell the world that I have been healed because of our brother and Lord, His Son, who traded His Heavenly crown for a thorny earthly one so that we all could be saved.

Why was I made the daughter of THE King?  NOT because I should glamorize myself, even when treated like royalty. Remember, even Cinderella had to get her own dishes done before heading out to the ball.

Why was I made the daughter of THE King? NOT because I should be treated like a rock star but learn to acknowledge the star which rocked our world, a bright one over a baby in Bethlehem.

Why was I made the daughter of THE King? Because He is the one who makes me sing.

Why was I made the daughter of THE King? Because I need to tell folks that my shine is His, not mine.

Why was I made the daughter of THE King? Because I am branched from His Vine. Fruit, gifted to us, is intended to point back to Him.

Why was I made the daughter of THE King? So that I would crave the pure spiritual milk that He feeds, so that I may grow up in my salvation.

Who makes us His Daughters? His Sons? Our King does. He is our Holiest of Holies, our Father above all others, our God.

Why? So that we would be His.

We are given freedom to serve.

I am thankful to live for Him.

Amen

---

1st Peter 2

Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

The Living Stone and a Chosen People
4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—  you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”

7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,  “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone,” and, “A stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.”

They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Living Godly Lives in a Pagan Society
11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.

13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people. Live as free people, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as God’s slaves. Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.

18 Slaves, in reverent fear of God submit yourselves to your masters, not only to those who are good and considerate, but also to those who are harsh. For it is commendable if someone bears up under the pain of unjust suffering because they are conscious of God. But how is it to your credit if you receive a beating for doing wrong and endure it? But if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God. To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.

22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”

23 When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.  “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”  For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.

#907, 12AUG

The Mystery

If there’s one thing I have learned with following the Lord, it is: Don’t stop what you are doing just because you don’t understand how it will finish!!! (One example currently is preparing my daughter for returning to college in 2 weeks – just keep doing the prep, the journey is as important as the destination.)

Somehow, in a great mystery the small tasks or the large tasks will be completed, either successfully or in a detour, or halted clearly in a stop. The answer will be provided or you yourself will be redirected. In the meantime, keep working the work that works.  Drop the fluff that fails. Don’t be blind to the need to change.  Listen to your heart. Keep the faith. Perhaps you will understand. Perhaps you won’t. Perhaps you can’t.

The mystery…

The mysteries are endless in faith, and even the faith is mysterious to me, but I know that I must keep it. I believe, therefore I will delight in knowing God knows. The mystery in how – what – when – why is NOTHING compared to the WHO. God knows. 

I have thought that when I reach heaven I will know everything. I guess I don’t really know if I will. It must be even more mysterious. I’m guessing that I won’t mind if I don’t know all because I DO know that I will see the Glory of God and that will be sufficient. How could it not be enough just to be in His presence. Therefore, is not the Glory of God sufficient for us right now?

I wonder if like Peter, we can really step out in faith forever or only for a few steps, or if we will continue to reconcile our faith after denying our thoughts that God has things under control. He built it and us, and He still does. I wonder if we really can see how we ourselves ARE becoming part of the Kingdom of God – only by being strengthened by God Himself. If He is the builder, then in addition to the rocks, He must be providing the mortar too Keeping it and us all together. Some builders can put perfectly matched rocks together and some rocks need mortar to stay where they are built. I would be one who is not perfect and needs the essential mortar of faith to fill me in. Fill in my gaps. Fill in my faith gaps. Be fulfilled. Be placed. Be.

I’m a mystery in myself, yet God knows me and what it takes to build me up. So won’t I let Him build me? Won’t I let Him direct me? Won’t I let Him place me.

In a combination of faith mystery and life mystery, we continue our journey, we must continue as God has never stopped – has He?…  He creates His new Kingdom with us in mind. HE knows where we fit. He will even try every angle, knock off the rough edges, anything to keep us from the discard pile. He has a purpose for us.

In the Book of Revelation chapter 5, John writes that Heavenly creatures say: “Who is worthy to open the scroll?” Then clearly Jesus, the Lamb who was slain, steps up, He is worthy. Jesus WAS and IS the answer. So can we understand that deep but revealed mystery now? We question and are to know: Jesus is the answer, let Him take the lead for us too. Build. Fit. Trust. Know. Be. Live. (And keep moving).

The Mystery of Faith is rooted in Faith. Faith holds us, Jesus made us all worthy.

We have God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, and life, what more do we need to know?

Amen

#906, 10AUG

Love is the Best Fruit Worth Sharing

Picking blueberries yesterday afternoon (in perfect summer weather with the sun at my back) reminded me that God has plenty good still prospering out in the world for us to enjoy and sustain us and be in the norm of His creation… and I had the opportunity so I took it. My conversation with the farmer, I could have continued it all day, about his family, about mine, about him being off the grid as a dream… About his life, I told him about my father working 50 plus years at the bank, his dream to work just as long as his father worked the railroad,  and about his dream for each of his kids to go to college, we did… I  told him that a favorite Facebook post of mine is “it’s not your job as a parent to get your kids into Harvard, but Heaven” about teaching the next generation how to live and love what they do rather than what actually to work at… I said how blessed I am that both my kids have direction and dreams.

All my conversations in life and interest in people remind me how different people take the same thing VERY differently… Surely some people would never dream to live how this farm family lives (they do use electricity now) and his dream of the future. It looks idyllic in summer, but I wonder about winter though… It’s a privilege either way to choose a life that they can work towards.  Many in the world are stuck in bad circumstances,  we in America are generally not, but some are… so if we are privileged, we also have the ability to modify our attitudes and steps. The farmer told me about his daughter, my son’s age. He is motivating her to get her driver’s license as she depends upon them to get her to work. She just started at the local organic store, she dreams however to live in the city… my daughter loves the city too… All their kids were/are homeschooled. They all have dreams about traveling…

I only paid $4 for the blueberries, so I gave him $20 and a note for his daughter to use it for gas money. My father gave me $ for gas money, I can share some.  Most importantly I wrote in the note with the money about if God takes care of the birds, then surely He will take care of us…

And He does. My father and mother take care of me too as I take care of my family… and we all take care of each other.

And God’s love?… That’s always my twinkle in my eye, bringing  me my smile, seeing the extravagant LOVE and generosity of our God who is also to be feared, is jealous, and firm… He is watching us thru His angels too. Moving us thru His Spirit. He is a good God and if we watch where and when to take our steps, He will guide them best… for kids, for travel, for patience, for life, for blueberries that I got to pick, just like when I was a kid… i thanked this farmer for sharing the outside with the kids of today’s world, that’s rarity these days… the fruits of his labor brings joy.

God’s joy? That we are loved, and have our love for God – and have our love for one another – these ARE the fruits of His labor…

Love IS the best fruit… worth sharing…

#905, 08AUG

IMMENSE and INTENSE

How far away we are from the stars, but no doubt that looking into the breathtaking depth of the shining stars, we have no idea how deep and how wide and how vast and how IMMENSE and INTENSE the array. Their display of light dazzles from so far away, just like our sun, the intensity carries that far to our eyes. And there are SO MANY.

Tonight I am camping, in deep enough wilderness that I could see such intense, deep stars, so many that it is like a freckle-face field of star dots. I saw 3 shooting stars, I did not think to make a wish, I was in God’s Hand and there is nothing else I needed just then. He knows better than I what I need. His plan plays out best. He got me here, safe thus far.

If we realized we are sitting in the palm of God, our Creator, perhaps looking up at the stars would akin to looking at the twinkle of God’s eye. Perhaps we are that close to be in His LOVE that we don’t know – we don’t know how deep how wide how everything His Love is in us and around us. YES, we are that close and Him to us, that we are immensely immersed. Even remember  that if the stars display such light that travels from so far, His love surpasses that in wideness, God is bigger.  So IMMENSE that His Son, who is also God in person came to be intensely close to dwell with us, came to our level so we could all arise to Heaven level.

Even remember in that Vastness, that if God is SO CLOSE to us, we can feel His presence in and thru us. His love surrounding is even deeper. His Glory is so intense, His love so much light in darkness.

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2nd Corinthians 4:6

How fitting for we are that close that we don’t always see. Just like the stars, light pollution from us prevents us from seeing.  But strip away us, cast off our earthly interference,  our distractions, and focus on feeling and seeing Jesus as our Savior and feeling His Spirit as our motion and knowing Our Father as Love. Feel that, seek that, know that intimate FULLNESS of God.

For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:14-19

My how CLOSE God is…

Surpassing all knowledge and simply becoming a presence to know.

Draw close, see and feel, and know that He was never far.

May you feel His Love always.

IMMENSE AND INTENSE

Amen

#904, 06AUG

Good Things: Grace and Flush Toilets

Your Grace is sufficient Lord.

I did ask for CAMPING, so I didn’t expect a power outage, so I guess it’s like camping, except with flush toilets. Yeah.

Thank you Lord for the Grace. Thank You Lord for the Good Things. Thank You Lord for the flush toilets.

I did ask for more family closeness Lord, so I didn’t expect to see my son more because he’s got no A/C or computer power in his room now. And he said: “do you need a hug?” Oh blessed. So I did hope for teaching lessons for my children, and I got them and I learned too. Yeah.

Thank you Lord for Your Grace, Thank You Lord for my children,  Thank You Lord for flush toilets.

I did ask to be outside more Lord, like camping, so I didn’t expect to hang laundry on the outside line, to learn how to use a borrowed generator (power still out).  To have non-random helpers. Yeah.

Thank you Lord for Your Grace, Thank You Lord for my children, Thank You Lord for friends and generators, Thank You Lord for flush toilets.

I did ask to have a cleaner house, so I didn’t expect to be vacuuming freezer coils, eat down pandemic stockpiles. I did work at what You put in front of me this week, and I mopped up the messes.

Thank You Lord for Your Grace, Thank You Lord for my children, thank You Lord for friends and generators, Thank You Lord for the time, Thank You Lord for the mess, Thank You Lord for flush toilets.

I didn’t ask for Grace because I didn’t understand. I do now. I do need Grace and it IS sufficient, and everything else will fall into place. I now ask for extended Grace to all. May all know You. May all learn. May all be patient with Your Pace.

Thank You Lord for Your Grace, Your lessons, Your love, Your hope, Your Love. And Your pace for my race, You can plan my plan and I will try to understand.

And oh yeah, those Flush Toilets… You inspired Good Things,  You made Good People who made Good Things,  You are Good. You are the Power and the Light in the dark.

Goodnight.  Thank you for the day Lord. Thank you for the night… Thank You for all Good Things…

Amen

#903, 02AUG

There will be Time, Now is a Sacrifice of Praise

I miss my praise band people so very much, it was actually very upsetting to me tonight, enough that I had to write, but a certain song set me straight… “Sacrifice”… a sacrifice of praise…

I miss seeing raised hands in the service, I just loved it… I miss singing my praises to our Lord, in a group, for sure I do sing in the kitchen, but I can’t justify singing without mask inside a building right now, nor justify the time away from the kids right now when we circled the wagons in the spring. Even work is urging us to not get sick, of course. Maybe I feel selfish for not singing and yet I could be considered selfish for wanting to be singing… Well, what is one to decide to do? Well, when we LET JESUS DECIDE, then it’s a no-brainer… 

We need to focus on Jesus to get peace instead of playing the ping pong game back and forth of our earthly wants.  Jesus KNOWS what we need. Jesus knows what He needs and where He needs you.

God initially, and I myself, hit the continued pause for me in praise band. I call it a Sacrifice of Praise (which is an old praise band song from my first band that I miss so much too.)… a sacrifice either way, either your time one way or another. But isn’t it better to have a sacrifice of PRAISE?

It’s a sacrifice, because I choose to opt out, as it’s my discernment that that’s probably safest and needed in these times but mostly after surveying the scene, it is what I needed in my times… and my times will change, THEY WILL. I can justify everything until the cows come home, even if I don’t have to at all… and surely the best justification is not justifying, only praising, only listening, for we don’t know the best plan, only the Lord knows… all we need is worship and praise. Discernment comes with divine direction.

Why does it become a “sacrifice of praise”? Because I praise that I have much I am able to sacrifice.  A praise also on my mind for Jesus and God’s sacrifice to guarantee our placement home.  Sometimes we are sacrificing somethings for others, sometimes we are sacrificing for peace of mind too. It’s my praise that I do have people in my life who do mean so much and I sacrifice for their sake… it’s my praise that we are called to drop our personal agendas too… it’s true that we are to praise the Lord even in the storms. Focus on Him and tears flow back in.

It’s our truth that Jesus as our focus must knock out all the other noise.

“Man looks on the outside, You look on the heart.”

It’s odd to me that I am like the least germaphobe, I eat stuff off the ground, even from my rug at work, but I feel what I feel, and so I can’t justify myself in the band mix right now… Thankfully, with Jesus my decision burden became light… I’m even a gambler, risk taker (sorry John Wesley) but my gut tells me solidly where to be…  With Jesus my “me” decision tree became “we”.

“To truly live for you, to truly seek Your Face.”

We justify with Jesus.

“Man looks on the outside

You look on the heart

That’s where my worship has to start”

A month from now is not now, and times will change. And my choices then will too… I don’t have to justify sending my daughter back to college, both because she is an adult whom I can’t prevent from making her own choices AND I won’t stop her school progress AND she moves from my bubble to hers, learning her way in the world.  I transfer much to her decision process,  but most importantly I must transfer my control to God (so hard!).  I justify also a month from now allowing my son’s wisdom teeth surgery… I may sacrifice some peace of mind then, but that same month he turns 16 and wants his driving permit. YIKES, so yes there are risks everyday… whew… Jesus take the wheel!

Well, there will be time later for my praise band time, God-willing…and if there isn’t? Well then there will be eternal praise time for the Lord,  there will be all the time not “in the world” but “out of the world” then.

“For all eternity, with every breath I take, I want my life to be,  a SACRIFICE OF PRAISE…. to You!!!”

So a sacrifice of praise it is… 

God, thanks for pulling my worries into worship and my pensiveness into praise.

There’s always time for PRAISE!

Amen

 

—–

 

Sacrifice,  Paul Baloche 

“Man looks on the outside

You look on the heart

That’s where my worship has to start

—

Words fall short to tell You

Yearnings that I feel…

I want to worship You for real

For real

—

To truly live for You

To truly seek Your face

To turn my heart towards You

A thousand times a day

—

For all eternity

With every breath I take

I want my life to be

A sacrifice of praise

A sacrifice of praise to You

—

Man looks on the outside

You look on the heart

That’s where my worship has to start

—

Words fall short to tell You

Yearnings that I feel…

I want to worship You for real

For real

—

To truly live for You

To truly seek Your face

To turn my heart towards You

A thousand times a day

—

For all eternity

With every breath I take

I want my life to be

A sacrifice of praise

A sacrifice of praise to You

—

To truly live for You

To truly seek Your face

To turn my heart towards You

A thousand times a day

—

For all eternity

With every breath I take

I want my life to be

A sacrifice of praise

A sacrifice of praise

A sacrifice of praise

A sacrifice of praise

A sacrifice of praise to You

#902, 31JUL

Patient Praiseful Endurance

It’s a summer of patience, it’s a time of waiting but still working. Pandemic and all, you must say it’s been an interesting year…

PATIENCE is needed – and I’m talking only about grocery store shopping! LOL… I watched a very long line, a very patient set of people… Everyone was polite and surely for the privilege of Trader Joe’s premium food, it was worth the wait. I was just walking by this time, but I know it is good stuff!!! The clerk at the fabric store next door was wiping down the carts as I walked in and later as I waited to check out. She said it takes time if you want to do it right.

It takes time… it takes patience…

“This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.” Rev14:12

That scripture is not about shopping, but enduring trial, waiting thru evil in a broken world, and remaining faithful to fulfilling God’s commands, one of which is to share the Good News about Jesus. So, wait we must – but work we must do too – now and for end times. John was given an actual trip into the Spirit realm, to witness what leads up to end times, and to write about what he saw. “Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth — to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.” ” Rev14:6-7

Let all those with ears hear this too, so that they will understand – and let us understand how important it is for us to praise, fear God and give Him glory.

John wrote so that we may understand about endurance, be encouraged to remain faithful regardless of the afflictions of evil. We are called to be patient and we are called to shine the light…  So as tempting as it is to be emotionally feeling down and grumpy about our circumstances, we must still be encouraging and uplifting… We must shine even brighter right now…  God is patiently waiting for all of us to worship, to love, and to praise. God is giving us Time for He wants all to meet and be saved by Jesus.

I placed a blue painted rock on the bench near the end of the grocery store entrance line, stating the importance of patience… We need all to focus on God, we need all of God’s plan to reach all. God needs that too… God is very patient, but there will be a time when earthly time will cease… a NEW JERUSALEM will emerge… Jesus says get ready and God surely says about our work:  It takes time if you want to do it right…

Since God is in charge of time, surely we can take time to share the Good News…

Amen

#901, 29JUL

Chain Reactions

God did good today, and so did His Angels. Especially for my daughter’s birthday. A chain reaction of car accidents stopped right in front of us, everyone was fine, but not those cars or tractor trailer frames, ouch, mangled bumpers and we were all so glad the tractor trailer hit the guard rail to take most of the brunt and that he didn’t tip over.

We were fine, amazingly a police officer was in the backed up traffic too and instantly there. We saw the people get out of the cars. Thank God the car behind me stopped in time too. A hedge of protection for sure. I raised my hand to the sky in thankfulness, heaped praises to the Lord in humbled halleluiahs. My daughter had just finished saying she preferred taking the train to inner city. It was stressful driving, it was a great save in our day.

There is something to be said for keeping a safe following distance,  it helps give angels more time to move in. 

Chain Reactions are bad on highways, angels are always needed.

GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME.

It was my daughter’s 19th birthday, was a fabulous day, she and I spent all day together, from presents to free Starbucks to a trip to a fancy art store in inner city, to a bubble tea place, to home, time for painting and resin pouring, kitty time, takeout steaks and movie watching – and our new norm is always prayers at night. Thankful prayers.  REALLY thankful as it could have taken a REALLY bad turn at that moment on the highway, but it DIDN’T. Just luck? No, because God INTERVENED thru our Holy Spirit. I didn’t really even think of the “what ifs”, I just reacted, then we kept moving… We were and are blessed with a chain reaction of Spirit flowing, of Angel-catches, and of paced timing.

Chain reactions in life can be harsh like car accidents or an intricate process for good – like God starting something, angels intervening, and so forth down the line… Everything is connected like a chain. Death could have been the end of the chain, our individual chain, except it isn’t – because when we accept His gift of salvation, JESUS RESTORES OUR LINK TO LIFE EVERLASTING.

There is another chain reaction to consider – but it is the reaction of our chains to Jesus, He breaks the chains that bind us, our chains forged in life and originally by sin, worldly things, death – these are broken and we are supposed to shake them off because Jesus broke them thru His death and Resurrection. Jesus is our Savior. His Alpha and Omega are not on separate ends as much as they are linked together. Love links all. The reaction chain of Him saving us means that our Father in Heaven can have us home.

SO…, live today like you should, form new links of life knowing Jesus is our link, our vine. Keep a safe following distance and watch for changing times. Keeping linked with others and with Jesus, faith in faith…

Thank You Lord for my children, my life, my links, my missions and Your SAVE.

Thank You Lord.

Whew.

AMEN

#900, 28JUL

Jesus Knows Your Name

There’s a little tidbit in scripture which means everything. Jesus KNOWS your name. Scripture tells of white stones inscribed with names and those He calls will understand… will know Him… a REVELATION for sure…

“I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it”. Rev 2:17

Jesus knows your name.

The little white stones at the beach are scattered and moved by the waves, they are smoothed by the friction, they stand out from the endless grains of sand when revealed, and even though they may exist only in the depths of the ocean, or buried under the shore, they exist, they are retained, they are strong enough, they are like us. These stones can represent our lives smoothed out from rough patches by abrasion and water flow, our lives held together by faith even if sometimes we are whirled in motion, or lives sometimes seemingly lost in the world but never out of sight of the One who made us. We are rolled by the rock tumblers of this world, but that also means we are SHINED by the Light Within. We live: “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;” 2nd Corinthians 4:7-9

Not only are these stones and our lives known by the Lord, we are called by name. Jesus knows the whole world, but it’s your name He is specifically calling, because He is the one who has gone ahead of you. He knows your hopes and wants to lead you to share His: the time when everyone knows His.

The time draws nearer and nearer to the end of times, and we are called to serve, share and let others know that they are known. It is not our curiosity that we need to feed, it’s His Kingdom we need to fill!

Read the book of Revelation, read the scriptures, read the signs of the times. But most of all, hear and heed the call of your own name by Him.

Go then and tell the others…

Amen

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The rest of the story starts here:

“The revelation from Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testifies to everything he saw—that is, the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near.” – keep reading Revelation,  AMAZING…

#899, 26JUL

Turn the Page for Self Care

What does “self care” look like? That’s the new hot term “self care”…  Does it mean spoiling yourself or does it mean just remembering to take care of yourself – to put your own oxygen mask on first before putting it on others. I can call this particular moment “self care” as I just sat down at the beach this morning, a friend will be coming but I decided to come early since the cat wakes me up at 5:00 a.m. anyway. I got a free parking spot – I hope to get a beach tag but the best is that at least I got here. At least I got here.

Creating a self care plan to me means that I made a plan and I was able to run with it (when you know all plans don’t actually get to be run)… Self care means I took care of my other obligation cares first, to be able to just be. Self care to me also means accepting what I can’t do and taking advantage of anything good I can. Being here at the beach is a successful moment of “I did“.

Self care is best achieved in being aware of being in the care of the Lord. Focusing, sitting down with the Lord – walking with the Lord – and resting with the Lord. Listening and remembering HIS care is infinitely better than your own self care.

New book I have – reading about Peter and Jesus walking on the water, about Peter sinking and Jesus lifting, that is me too. I went to take this beach photo,  but the page kept turning and I thought: isn’t that true for our lives: DON’T STAY ON THE SAME PAGE, accept the save and turn the page.  Get-up-and-go. Take time of course to sit down and rest, but Peter didn’t stay “standing still” with Jesus after he was lifted, they got back onto shore swiftly. They keep moving…

If you listen to the waves, listen to the birds, feel the sun, that’s self care time well spent but most importantly listen to your heart – your heart is where the Lord resides. He can help you there and everywhere, help you in a way that directly speaks to you. In everything the Lord has created, He specifically made YOU. And what has the Lord has deposited in You?  HIS SPIRIT.

There is no better self care then SPIRIT CARE.. His Spirit is for you.

Keep turning the page, for you, for your care, for your plan, for your hope, for your mission. The Lord ALWAYS has something to say about your walk with Him.

Amen

898

Stop Focusing On Your Fears, 25JUL

Stop Focusing On Your Fears.

Easy to say. Not easy to do.

Best way? Focus on Jesus instead.

We say that all the time, Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Perhaps often my distractions are that I see my fears being played out in someone else’s life, and I forgot that it’s NOT happening to me, I forget my blessings of being “safe thus far”.  Perhaps through somebody else’s situation, I get paralyzed by watching when I should be thinking of how Jesus would get them out of that situation.  (And sometimes we are but perhaps we are not always on the rescue team).  None the less, we are ALWAYS on the prayer team. ALWAYS.

FOCUS ON JESUS. You will find praise. Praise that He knows you and knows your fears. Praise that He forgives you and forgives your forgetfulness. Praise that He is True. Praise that He has gone ahead. Don’t let your fear make you forget your faith. Your steps are sure if you surely can remember to trust.

Perhaps better than worrying about train wrecks, let us all go in advance to the intersections of people’s faith and strengthen them with ours. Perhaps you will find others strengthen yours too. Perhaps better than being the spoiler, or stopping traffic, let the trains cross slowly and see if it all fits together in a plan better than you could have imagined. Don’t be afraid to cross if Jesus is directing. Crossing intersections of faith could involve the Cross, sometimes sacrifice, and always praise.

Adding onto the famous lyrics:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus, [not the world or your perceived future].

Look full in His Wonderful Face, [not at shadows that your fears hide in].

And the things of Earth will grow strangely dim, [because Jesus seriously IS THE ONLY LIGHT].

In the Light of His Glory and Grace, [as nothing earthly, even death, can touch His Glory and Grace].

Nothing can even touch His GLORY and GRACE.

Always remember: JESUS SEES WHAT HE WILL LEAD YOU TO.

AMEN

#897, 24JUL

You’ve Been Paced

I’ve watched and heard the sweetest goodbyes between a little kid and their dad. The dad drives such a slow pace each morning leaving the house a few doors down from mine, and he and his little child yell goodbyes within earshot to each other for at least half a block. Dad leans out his work van, drives at just the right pace. Awww… I bet the child will remember that all day.

The pace of our lives are just that, a certain pace in a certain place.

Yesterday was my first turnpike slowdown in 5 months of the lightest traffic, never a stop but a 45 minute crawl covering only 10 miles. I heard about the construction set up, I chose that path anyway, since it is most direct. The radio traffic report said the cars were being purposefully “paced”.

PACED.

Today I was “stuck” behind the train crossing, with both kids after the dentist, it was ok I had nowhere super urgent to be, I was not far from home so I waited, checked my email on my phone and waited. It doesn’t pay to bail at that intersection anyway,  there would be an extra 10 minute drive around, not worth it…. and I could see the fast but long train. Just wait it out. Life slowed down but stay on track.

Just before the train finished and the track crossing opened, at least half a dozen cars bailed – waited for a long time and then bailed so late. Seriously, how long would you wait before bailing? I watched one car that did just before the opening and was then stuck at the light in the opposite direction. When the opposing traffic started to flow, he realized that he should have waited 30 seconds more. His face told the whole story of ugh…. he lost time trying to save it.

He had been paced.

I have been paced.

You’ve been paced.

We, we are being paced by life, paced by ourselves, paced by God.  Which is the best, right, smart way to live? We cannot outpace or out-race God.

No matter what you do,  if you don’t do it in God’s terms, He will pace you.

“As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.” Ecclesiastes 11:5

If you build a plan without God, it will fail. Psalm 127

If you rush, you will be paced back to His schedule.

If you think you can out-run God, you can’t. And you wouldn’t want to anyway.

If you try to slow down something God is doing, you can’t. His timing,  His place,  His pace.  Accept the pace. Sometimes the pace is a race but with God, let Him win the race.

You think things are falling into place, just right? You also have been placed, traced, spaced, and embraced. Paced.

Take the time that God has given you, use the time wisely, spend time with loved ones, work diligently. Embrace the pace, God has made time for you and me. He says we are worthy of His time, worthy not by our doing but by His Grace.

His Pace, His Place, His Grace.

Amen

#896, 21JUL

Calming the Waters

How many times do we think that we are in choppy waters in life  – too many…

How many times we realize that we are actually in CALM waters – we don’t notice this enough.  But I bet we are in calm waters more often than not. We see choppy times ahead but today look to see where your calm is placing you. If we have a moment to rest enough to pick up anything to read, we are at that moment calming down. If we sit and observe, we have an opportunity for calming… even moving water can still be calm… even ear-filled moments can be calm… and the eye of any and all hurricanes can be calm… BECAUSE calm is from WITHIN. Calming is an action. Calmness is.

Jesus is.

I sat looking at the “Calm Waters Cafe” sticker on my daughter’s laptop. It’s a great cafe run by spiritual folk. It has seats in the window for you to watch the world go by while you sit calmly… Jesus calmed those waters and those times. Jesus calms these times as well.

Sitting calmly I was looking at the sticker, but we were busy, we were shopping for birthday presents online with 2 laptops,  2 phones, 5 stores, coupons vs free shipping, delivery time vs pickup, gifted Grandma money vs ours… a burst of “hard work” for ease of easy times. Jesus calmed those waters and these times.

The cat is studying the world outside as close as we let her, through the locked screen door at 5am. I’m studying the cat who was gifted into our lives. At times when strife could erupt, the volume instead of moments of cat cuteness or coy cat-purposely-in-the-way-ness is a true calming influence in this house. Jesus calmed those waters and these times.

Looking across this floor to the door, there used to be times it was filled with junk, there used to be times when I had not yet had the money for furniture, there were times I didn’t even have times to look. Jesus calmed those waters and these times.

And there were times of joy. And there were times of pain. And there were times of strife. And there were times of loneliness. And there were times of stillness. Jesus calmed those waters and these times.

Jesus calms life sometimes “just enough” so even though there are big waves, you know which direction they come from. Jesus calms life sometimes most of the way and waits for you to stop making your own rough seas. Jesus also calms you sometimes instead of the waves. Jesus made these days for our realization of His Way.

Jesus calmed those waters and these times, these waters and these times.

Maybe we need to choose to look at the world and get ready to calm it ourselves. So don’t be afraid to step out of your boat today.  It’s ok to venture. Jesus will be there.

Jesus already knows the Way.

Amen

895, 20JUL

Written for a friend who is struggling with the frustrations of people and life…

But LOVE is BIGGER

Evil is evil. But LOVE is BIGGER.

Nutty people are nutty. But LOVE is BIGGER.

Distractions big and small eat away at your day.  But LOVE is BIGGER.

Horrible people do horrible things. But LOVE is BIGGER.

Lonely people do lonely things. But LOVE is BIGGER.

Cantankerous people do cranky things. But LOVE is BIGGER.

Thankless people do thankless things. But LOVE is BIGGER.

Annoying people do annoying things. But LOVE is BIGGER.

Stuck people don’t do many things. But LOVE is BIGGER.

Shallow people do minimal things. But LOVE is BIGGER.

Boastful people do too many things. But LOVE is BIGGER.

Silly people do silly things. But LOVE is BIGGER.

Smart people do smart things. But LOVE is BIGGER.

Cool people do cool things. But LOVE is BIGGER.

Bold people do bold things. But LOVE is BIGGER.

Humble people do humble things. But LOVE is BIGGER.

Lovely people do lovely things. But LOVE is BIGGER than even that.

People cannot out love LOVE. For LOVE comes from ABOVE. 

LOVE IS BIGGER THAN BIG. LOVE IS WILLING TO SHARE LOVE THINGS EVERYWHERE.

LOVE GIVES ITSELF AWAY WITHOUT DIMINISHING.

LOVE SPRINGS FROM LOVE WITHOUT DRYING UP.

LOVE IS BIGGER THAN YOU AND ME AND ALL THOSE OTHER PEOPLE TOO.

LOVE ENVELOPES YOU AND ME AND ALL THOSE OTHER PEOPLE TOO.

LOVE LOVES ALL. THE FALLEN AND THE SMALL. THE SHADOW AND THE LIGHT.

LOVE KNOWS THAT LOVE IS WHAT IS RIGHT.

AMEN

 

894, 15JUL

“No Way” vs The Way

I appreciate this small book written specifically about the relationship between Peter and Jesus,  “A Fragile Stone ” by Michael Card. (FYI there are $6 used copies on ebay). It’s not just commentary,  it’s opportunity to learn about our own relationships with Jesus and Jesus with us, as we learn our humanness.

I appreciate that conversation between Peter and Jesus is our conversation too… we can see/hear ourselves in Peter’s humanness for sure… we can feel Jesus’s tenderness in understanding Peter who takes a while to understand who Jesus really is, and we can feel the occasional “what were you thinking!” “ughs” in Jesus’s tone towards Peter… it was important that there was a friendship between Peter and Jesus, the man and Messiah, a familiarity and openness. We also see the rebukes of Peter’s messiness by the Messiah thru His Message, and we see the reconciliation. Peter being Peter is our example of why Jesus chose us too – Jesus came to save, to heal, to teach. Jesus came to get into our mess.

The Matthew 16:13-23 passage about Peter’s shock that Jesus would die on the cross is a blindside that he didn’t see coming and it took a long time for it to register with Peter. Peter essentially abruptly said: “NO WAY!” Jesus said “Satan get behind me.”

Peter: NO WAY!

JESUS: WAY!

We say NO WAY in disbelief all the time. I can hear myself say that. I’ve heard it a LOT recently. We get shocked. The satanic reference (and worldly existence of distractions getting in Jesus’s Way) in conversation between Jesus and Peter behooves us to be examining our life thru our human point of view. Are we also trying to second guess Jesus? Isn’t that surely from the bite on that apple? The human brain lost its way, but Jesus’s Way brings us back on our way to His Way. If all will kneel for Jesus, and follow Him, then He can guide all.

That bite, we weren’t there, but that is what took a bite out of our lives. And Jesus was made for the healing.  Jesus gets us out of the mess. This and all ages of mess bested by the Messiah of Ages, the Message.

That Peter moment is us. Totally us. We put the “No” in front of the Way. We cannot fathom all the Ways of God. Jesus wishes us to see life in His Way. We have to admit that sometimes instead of standing still, we still stand in our own way, blocking our way, not seeing clearly. We are human. Jesus is divine.  Way divine. WAY WAY WAY DIVINE.

Jesus sees from God’s point of view. Can we glimpse that? climb past ourselves? look forward and leave the rest behind? Can we understand that Jesus put Satan behind him, moved the snake and eventually crushed the snake as He arose defeating death. Jesus kept walking and working forward, He still does to this day. His Way is the High Way, the Right Way, the Only Way. The Way that saves your day.

Jesus is the Way. The “NO WAY” of Peter (and us) is WAY behind us now. We are Peter people too, but we can learn. Peter and we can ROCK the Way.

Amen

 

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Matthew 16

Peter Declares That Jesus Is the Messiah

13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades  will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Jesus Predicts His Death

21 From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

22 Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

23 Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? 27 For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.

 

 

#893, 12JUL

Time, Time, Time

I know there is a time and place for everything… Ecclesiastes 3 always rings True

True.

True.

True.

 

Pandemic outside, Turn Turn Turn.

Not the first one, Turn Turn Turn.

People are scared, Turn Turn Turn.

God is in charge, Turn Turn Turn.

 

Use your time wisely,  True True True.

Feel God’s love deeply, True True True.

ONE DAY AT A TIME, True True True.

Don’t worry, just BE, True True True.

 

Tomorrow takes care of itself, Time Time Time.

Live in the present, Time Time Time.

Today His Grace is enough,  Time Time Time.

Embrace peace right now, Time Time Time.

 

He hath made everything BEAUTIFUL in His Time. Amen Amen Amen

All are of the dust, Amen Amen Amen 

All turn to dust again. Amen Amen Amen 

Rejoice in THIS season. Amen Amen Amen.

 

Praise Him FOREVER.

Praise

Praise

Praise.

 

Amen

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To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6 A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

9 What profit hath he that worketh in that wherein he laboureth?

10 I have seen the travail, which God hath given to the sons of men to be exercised in it.

11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God maketh from the beginning to the end.

12 I know that there is no good in them, but for a man to rejoice, and to do good in his life.

13 And also that every man should eat and drink, and enjoy the good of all his labour, it is the gift of God.

14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.

15 That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.

16 And moreover I saw under the sun the place of judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that iniquity was there.

17 I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.

18 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

19 For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity.

20 All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again.

21 Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?

22 Wherefore I perceive that there is nothing better, than that a man should rejoice in his own works; for that is his portion: for who shall bring him to see what shall be after him?

 

 

#892, 10JUL

Remember the Rescues

This passage from Michael Card is great for today…. it’s not the miracles that convince us,  it is those rescues from sinking that we remember… yes, the rescues…

Like Peter and sinking after walking…

We remember the rescues.

“[There] was a deeper lesson [Peter] had to learn, and Jesus is intent on him not missing it, even as now you and I must learn it if we are to move forward as we walk through the wind storm of following Jesus. It is almost never heard in American churches. Indeed there are some congregation who would call it heresy. The lesson is that Peter needed to sink in order to take the next step of faith in Jesus. Because walking on the water does not ultimately increase our faith, only sinking does! Those who ask for miracles and receive them soon forget. But those who suffer for Christ’s sake never forget. They have their own wounds to remind them. When we are hurting we do not flee to the rich and healthy for wisdom and real comfort. We seek out those who have fellowshipped in the sufferings of Jesus.”

Michael Card, p53 A Fragile Stone

#891, 09JUL

Restore us Lord

In life I’ve burnt my left leg badly, twice. Both accidentally because of rushing, oversight, oops… the huge burn from 4 years ago you wouldn’t even know it now (but I saved photos). My recent burn still hurts and is healing. I am OK! Walked into a hot iron I placed on the floor. Thank God it is healing and I believe that I am over the worst, but I must still apply anti-microbial medicine. I learned from the last wound, so I can be more knowing this time. Healing takes time.

But I am not really only talking about my leg, I’m talking about spiritual growth...  our burns and burdens are not to be ignored but dealt with and set aside. Learned from and left. Scars remind but they are not to overwhelm our lives, we are to deal with our own selves with grace that covers us from Jesus, otherwise the devil will have a field day. Be forgiven and move forward.

If I did not take care of my wounds, my body would still fight for its survival. If I way prematurely assumed gangrene and leg amputation, then I might give up taking care. If I assumed the worst, I would be too distracted to live.  That’s the distraction of the devil who wants you to be hung up and paralyzed in fear, overthinking, and wrong. That’s the conviction when you have not had the trial. Don’t go that far. Jesus will fight for your soul. Don’t worry about tomorrow,  tomorrow will worry about itself. Stay in the present and tend to the moment. Be attentive to the Lord and let Him handle things.

If I cover my wound, there are less likely chances that microbes that will infect from outside, but I also have to watch for any pre-existing embedded bacteria and fungi which might flourish. I must cover and treat. I must also not inflict false cure attempts that are worse. I must find the balance. That’s not just my wound, that’s also my soul. Jesus and repentance. Jesus covers us. Jesus fought and won the battle over sin and death. Jesus’s blood covers us. And Jesus IS sufficient. Any false cure will hurt more. The treatment for our own sins is repentance, but from pre-existing sin, original sin, human nature sinfulness, you can only be treated and healed by Jesus. And He has saved us, so we MUST ACCEPT His victory and cover ourselves with Him. (and it is easier to cover our wounds if we would only: BE STILL).

Jesus said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” Matthew 19:26

And we are to remind ourselves that we do have Jesus, we need to not waiver about our need for him. We must believe that He will bind our wounds and heal us. We are His to heal, He will make ALL wounds disappear. He will create in us clean hearts. He restores the sparkle to our eyes… He will make our fears dissipate. He restoreth our soul.

Lord, restore our sparkle, heal our wounds, cover us with You.

You are our possible.

Amen

 

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Psalm 13:3-6 NLT

O Lord my God!   Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die.  Don’t let my enemies gloat, saying, “We have defeated him!”  Don’t let them rejoice at my downfall.  But I trust in your unfailing love.  I will rejoice because you have rescued me. I will sing to the Lord because he is good to me.

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Psalm 147:1-11 NIV

Praise the Lord.  How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!

The Lord builds up Jerusalem;  he gathers the exiled of Israel.

He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.

He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name.

Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.

The Lord sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground.

Sing to the Lord with grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp.

He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills.

He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call.

His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior;

the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.

#890, 08JUL

I’m Still Here, Lord

Thank you Lord.

Good morning Vine.

If You awoke me, I must be fine, as long as I remain Thine.

These mornings I wake up and say: “I’m still here, Lord.  Thanks.”

Sometimes it’s said with a “whew”  sometimes with a cheer, sometimes in disbelief.  Often times it is in quiet, as these summer days we should try not to wake up in alarm but just in a natural quiet.

The rest of the day will not always be so natural, neutral or even nice. But this morning can be ours – the moment of realizing God’s faithfulness. First and foremost because: We awoke.

“Good morning Lord, I am blessed to be with You, here on earth, my temporary assignment. Not a vacation but a vocation for eternal living. Thank you always dear Father, for my connection to the Vine.”

There are many held in fragile health, and we too are fragile,  a delicate balance of molecules and motions. There are many held in fragile emotions, a spiritual balance of purpose and prayers. There are many in great fear, an anxious unbalance, and there is anger too. Then there are many who don’t even think, they just get up and go, or there are some who purposefully stay slow.

The Vine. Jesus is the Vine. Remain in Him. Regardless of how we all wake, we are all HELD and we are all LOVED. Jesus holds the hope of reaching them to be awake in Him as Lord, not just awake in the world.

The Vine holds us flowingly and lovingly. We can sway and move with the winds of time. We can not bear fruit in life without our connection. We will be fed forever and taken home in Him.

The Vine.

Hold onto the Vine. Yes, hold onto the Vine with man-made tendrils, but flow your life from within, thru Spirit-made purpose.

The best purpose is LOVE. Live love, teach love, be love.

Love flows in, so that it flows out. Love from the Lord, then love to the Lord. Love from the Lord, then love to the Lord’s people.

Jesus: ““I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” John 15:1-4

Our branch to the Vine grows physically ever longer and stronger and could emotionally grow ever closer and weaker. But we don’t grow our own branch to Vine, He grows us, closer to our Father.

That is love worth waking up for.

 

Amen

 

 

#889, 04JUL

Already Been Fished

Phishing – I walked into a phishing phone call yesterday – I googled and grabbed the wrong number in haste – I didn’t give them too much information before I got very suspicious and hung up the phone. CLOSE… it’s a terrible thing to stress about it and it’s sad those who perpetuate the problems… I’m sorry to not realize, and I reported them… I hope for the best.  No one can say they have been not been phished, and some do take the bite, it’s frustrating but human to be tempted  by bait. So it is important for us to say: “Wait!”

Before I started rolling thru all my other guilty thoughts of “oops”-es, so much woulda coulda shoulda, I realized my own advice, about the experience, also pertained to me: if they keep you on the line and start to aggravate you (like this guy did), you are prone to give even more information about your situation, it’s best to stay calm, don’t give yourself away.  It dawned on me that the devil does the same thing, aggravate you and go phishing for inroads to your sanity. It’s up to us to not give ourselves away.

Tell the phisher you’ve already been fished. Jesus fished!

Ask Jesus to guard you, to answer the mental door. Tell the devil to stand down. Tell Jesus you are sorry, thank Him for forgiveness, and accept it. ACCEPT IT AND MOVE FORWARD.  Next time, ask Jesus to pick up the phone.

I accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior, basically He walked into my heart and life before I ever asked. Then, when He awoke me, and held me, I really had to accept Him as real. And to accept Jesus is to accept our humanness and accept His forgiveness. We all must say YES! We are not baited but netted. He has fished for us all. We may not have wanted to be caught, yet we are best to stop wriggling away. Now we know, we can not live without Jesus.  Jesus catches us with His Love, holds us with His Hopes, saves us with His Life. We have been fished, for He will bring us back to the Kingdom for Our Father.

Tell the darkness in thoughts that you have SEEN the Light.

Tell the bait you are already FED.

Tell the false freedoms that you are not entangled with false hope, but secured with the Truth.

It is not a net loss but a net GAIN!

Instead of dread, accept the bread.

“Savior,  please save my day.

Capture me from my human way.

Fish me and net me.

Pull me away from the enemy and traps of phish-food.

Jesus, tell them I’M YOURS!!!”

 

Amen

#888, 03JUL

THE Story

Such a blessing to see Hamilton from the comfort of my couch, with my college-aged daughter, who kept checking to see if I was watching… oh yes for sure… In addition to being a huge Broadway fan, I appreciate that it cost less for a month subscription to Disney streaming ($6.99) than it would have cost to simply get Dunkin Donuts food at the train station on the way to surely what could have been $750 ticket cost plus in a theater… yeah… any bargain is a bargain…

The priceless part of each day is spending the time with my kids… the priceless take home message of the Hamilton story includes the lyrics: “who tells your story…” well, often it is your children, your co-humans, your letters, your trace.

Not lost on me was the lyric: “you write like you’re running out of time?” Yes, that’s Hamilton, he wrote and wrote and intensely impacted the formation of the United States like you imagine a founding father would. Hamilton ran out of time, with Aaron Burr’s duel. He really did run out of time but was blessed with a legacy because of Eliza, his wife, who told his story, their story, for 50 more years.  This musical writes her story too…

Legacy…

Why do I write? I have to.  I have no choice.  Whose story? Not mine. Yes I am in these writings, but I KNOW that I am to write to tell about a bigger Story than mine.  Whose legacy? Not mine. What is mine is my personal filter within my writing. My story includes how I need to tell how His Story has an impact on mine. HIM, THE BIG H, the uppercase and only God, the Lord of Lords… the Word of Words… Maybe my kids will read my stories, or not. Maybe others will. But either way, I want all to know that it is His story rather than ours… and when you want to write His Story, you have to put your own pen down. Give Him the opportunity to publish thru you. Be His heart, hands, feet, and certainly be His open book. Be human humbly, hoping to heal in a broken world. Be the help you know the world needs. We all will be healed because we know the end of THE story.

His legacy is life everlasting. His Story is His Life.

So, why do I, like Hamilton, write and write and write? like we are running out of time? Because we are.

But He is not. 

He MAKES time.

It’s His Story, all about Grace, Life, and all of us are in it.

God Bless every Willing Word.

Amen

887, 30JUN

God Wants a Relationship

When I finally organized my recent newly cut piles of fabric for face mask sewing,  it looked pretty, I love fabric, but it also looked sad to me, overwhelming, it looked like I bit off more than I can sew, plus I know that we are sadly in the depths of unusual times and a bad pandemic. When I got back into it and started sewing this batch, I felt much much better, as I felt I was being very purposeful making them for specific people. I imagined progress (half of these are not for anyone, yet, and so it is just an overwhelming pile of half done). I’m sure I will get more energetic about the extra, because God will find purpose for me because  of my relationship with Him… I will probably make some for a nursing home or food bank or homeless  shelter…  I know that I don’t have to finish them all at once… See, sharing JUST with friends is fun, but we need to go further… Sharing our faith is like that too… we need to share for the sake of people whom we won’t even know.  God knows them all. God wants a relationship with all. God wants progress to reach all…

If I can be in joy working for friends and family,  imagine how much JOY that God has working for all of us, reaching all HIS FAMILY.

Imagine how joyful each person’s relationship with God could be, then imagine how JOYFUL God must be!!!

God wants relationship.

Imagine how painful the world is, then imagine how much pain the Lord has for all His children.

God wants relationship.

Imagine the peace of a relationship with God, then imagine how peace-filled God would be if He knew He had reached each child of His.

God wants relationship.

Imagine the organization of the world with God-fearing, God-loving people putting things into perspective,  less bickering,  more giving,  then imagine how perfectly placed all of our needs would be with God regifting the garden caretaking to us.

God wants relationship.

Imagine bleakness, but then eternal glory in Heavenly realms. God provides those heavenly hopes.

God wants relationship.

Imagine NOT bleakness but imagine HEAVEN ON EARTH,

HEAVEN ON EARTH is REALLY what RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD could accomplish.

Imagine that…

Amen

#886, 30JUN

Fear Not

A perfect new read for me, Michael Card’s “A Fragile Stone”. So good…

Nice small book, easy read, with deepest of thoughts… this section was all about Jesus saying: “Fear not” after the miraculous catch of fish. How earth-shattering the realization of Peter who caught the fish only to be overcome with a fear of complete success – unworldly success – not success measured in human terms – but an amazement that knocked him down to his knees – of all people, Peter was realizing that he himself Fimawas being pulled out of the net of people. Peter was given the job to fish for men. Peter, imperfect Peter, was paired with Perfection of Grace.

Peter that day saw an example of complete success in fishing, of extravagant success.  Peter would not barely even grasp what was next, that Jesus IS God… therefore there is no way he would understand what would be needed as a sacrifice for the rest of his life. Imagining the notion to be given the chance to see scripture fulfilled, to see first-hand God’s plan in sending His Son to save the world. How overwhelming… for right now, Jesus is only asking Peter to follow. Jesus never asked Peter to lead.

Jesus calls, we must answer. But wow, it’s Jesus! Are we ready to walk thru the door as He leads? Are we ready to leave our thoughts of “I’m not worthy” – of “I’m too sinful”… Or “there is no way this will succeed…” Can we grasp that it is God Himself who says: Yes, seriously, YOU… I WANT YOU! I HAVE A PLAN AND YOU ARE IN IT!

The best Michael Card sentence is: “[we stand before these terrifying possibilities – to let go of our security, to open ourselves to the frightening possibility of complete and utter success, to leave all that is familiar and safe for an unknown world – but then we noticed that standing beside us is Jesus.  He confidently whispers: “Don’t be afraid, after all it’s me“… ]

We have the perfect imperfect life, like Peter. We are the rash ones, the ones who are used to dealing with failure. If we see our perfect Savior, then we know our sinfulness, but the reverse thinking is best: when we see our sinfulness, we see our Savior looking at us, He sees just us. He walks us away from the sin. He is our Way.

Jesus says fear not, be not consumed by your fear nor be anything but you. JESUS SAYS: BE MINE.

Walk and Be.

Amen

 

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Luke 5:1-11  NKJV

So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets.  Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat.

When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!”

For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men.”  So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him.”

 

#885, 28JUN

Nesting as a Kingdom Homebody

There is no doubt that I have been feeling a resurgence of a “NESTING” for my children, my house, my days of peaceful homebody-life… I’m not pregnant but that NESTING feeling was real then, and real now, 19 yrs later… HOME is where you raise your brood, excursions are where you teach your brood, vacation is where you escape,  HOME is where you long to linger… NESTING…

My active day yesterday was ultimately focused back on my nest. I moved carloads of stuff out, moved only a $mall carload of IKEA furniture $tuff back in, and caulked holes in a damp corner of the house to keep the bugs out… today will be home NESTING by rearranging furniture, lives, hopes, bugs… (the bugs have plenty of room outside, not IN my house… 1AM is not my favorite time to catch pincher bugs…)

Home, is not an oasis but a lily pad… we are all getting ready to jump, but surveying the scene… Earthly home, it is a temporary dwelling in which to raise kids and live in whatever comfort you can find and afford… home can give peace beyond measure… home gives best sleeping potential… even the cat is sleeping… Home is where I thank the Lord that I circled my wagons to be home.

Yesterday, within the breaks of carloads of moving stuff, a favorite scriptural song and sight and saying resurged again and again to calling out to me: birds chirping and daylilies blooming… birds were noisy in their nest, reminding me that the Lord will take care of me and my brood. Daylilies were grand in their blooms, reminding me that even how intensely beautiful they are, they will fade, so how much more will the Lord bloom us, clothe us, feed us, prosper us… and intensely I am reminded to stop focus on temporary things so much as to miss the point that our KINGDOM home is where GOD HAS BEEN NESTING FOR OUR ETERNAL LIFE. oh, yes, we can be a KINGDOM HOMEBODY here on earth… “on earth as it is in Heaven”

There’s a great deal of teaching in Matthew 6,  Jesus came to SAVE, and He longed to teach… the amazing thing about being at home is being gifted the quiet peace to read and learn and live… Jesus pours out Kingdom NESTING teaching in Matthew 6,  it is a teaching for a lifetime of learning…

Jesus circled wagons with His life to surround and complete God’s circle of Home.

Today is an open day, an open opportunity, and an opportunity to rest so that with the Holy Spirit’s Help we can start to work on the rest. Keep working the walk Jesus is leading, prepare for His next Step for your life. Soak in today, as today (and everyday) the Lord thinks about living Home in His Kingdom NEST with His children, ETERNALLY…

ENJOY EVERYDAY: Be a Homebody for the Kingdom…

Amen

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Matthew 6 (the second half, NKJV)

6 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

 

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Matthew 6 (the first half, NKJV)

Do Good to Please God

6 “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 3 But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.

The Model Prayer

5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 7 And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do. For they think that they will be heard for their many words.

8 “Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. 9 In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,

Hallowed be Your name.

10 Your kingdom come.

Your will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

11 Give us this day our daily bread.

12 And forgive us our debts,

As we forgive our debtors.

13 And do not lead us into temptation,

But deliver us from the evil one.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

 

14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Fasting to Be Seen Only by God

16 “Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

Lay Up Treasures in Heaven

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The Lamp of the Body

22 “The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 23 But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

You Cannot Serve God and Riches

24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (riches)

#884, 26JUN

Give it up to the Holy Ghost

Have you ever had such fear, such anxiety that you were very crippled? But you kept trying your best to be walking with the Lord? Knowingly or unknowingly, surely He carried you!

How does Holy Spirit refocusing us save our day? We must “Give it up for The Holy Ghost!”  Giving up problems, big problems, little problems, all problems, to the Holy Spirit means TRUSTING, it means you are remembering you are not yours but His.

Regardless of issues, and everything is relative, I’ve been to a place where I was gripped with the worst fear, where all I could do was pray (which is the best thing to do in any situation). I have had my wind was knocked out of me so fully, that my air life-support MUST have been from Him as it is only His to give. To have no breath of my own I had to to keep breathing the Spirit of Hope. In this place the Lord stayed near and all I could say was He was in charge. Actually that is the best way, His way, it is a saving grace way. I also realized He’s much better at handling me than me. He showed me what was good and praise-worthy. I watched Him pull my brain back after I let my brain run away in fear, where the demons were egging each other on… Oh Lord, I cried out to You and then I KNEW EXACTLY the moment where the demon attack left me like a snap of fingers, a rush of wind whipping me back to me. I knew, I know, I’ve not forgotten that moment, after soul-searching, scorching pain, suffering, I was rescued to pray another day… and with that SNAP, with a flip of a switch, the devil stood down.  I give it all up to the Holy Ghost.

The devil stood down.

GOD TIPPED THE SCALES. 

When? When I stopped focusing on me.

WHEN I STOPPED WORRYING ABOUT ME and focused on another!

When I lived in the moment, HIS MOMENT, and not in my perceived future. The present is a present for us to open.

THE DEVIL DROPPED HIS ATTACK LIKE A HOT POTATO BECAUSE I STAYED ON FIRE FOR THE LORD AND I GOT PASSED MY OWN ISSUES. When my soul sought to help encourage another person, I was returned to me.

Will the attack linger, yes like hot coals still being unearthed in places, but they will grow colder every day. Time heals but any inkling that the devil gets hint of where you are weak, he will try. The best defense? Tell the devil that even when I am weak, the Lord is STRONG!!!!

How did I keep moving? I never lost Hope. I never hoped more in the power of the Lord to protect me, forgive my humanness.  I KNEW I was never dropped out from grace. I knew my place in the heavens was secured because I was and am placed there in advance by His saving Grace. I was taken, netted, by Jesus and taken care of by Him. Kingdom captured, Jesus NEVER lets us go.

Jesus will NEVER let you go.

Whoosh, how would I have known this was an attack unless I was rescued. I knew, I know, and now I need to share not the attack but the RESCUE.  When we say: “Jesus, I’m facing an incident. I NEED YOU!”,  JESUS FOLLOWS THRU.

How did the Holy Spirit make a difference? By reaching me, teaching me, in advance. Mostly by showing me where I needed to grow and how I grew. When I said “I’m sorry Lord, but I learned, I grew” my tears rolled back in.

God wins. If the balance is off in your life, it’s not our scales to tip, it is not the devils to dip into. It is the LORD who weighs all, forgives all, sees all, knows all.

All in All, He will NEVER let us down.

Keep praying for He has ALREADY won the battle.

 

Amen

 

Amen

 

Amen

 

883, 23JUN

“I’m Not Throwing Away My Shot”

There’s a new classic line in modern culture from the musical Hamilton,  “I’m not throwing away my shot.” It’s Alexander Hamilton’s determination to work hard to achieve a dream – not a shot with a bullet but a shot at making a difference in a new land – and he knows he needs to work. And work pays off. All his intense work and life were fueled by not throwing away his opportunities – before that fatal bullet.

A little devotion booklet was handed to me by a new friend, and I turned to a passage that speaks of Nehemiah who desired to rebuild the wall in Jerusalem. He wept, prayed, fasted. He spiritually prepared and believed in the project, he knew he had a shot to improve their future, then he and his co-laborers got to work. The booklet devotion reminds us that the Lord’s protection is around us. That the Lord is building and rebuilding our lives. That people who have a “mind to work” can work hand in hand with the Hand that loves them, with His guidance and strength. The scripture (pasted below) tells of the workers building and being called to defend their positions and families all while working.

And they don’t “throw away their shot” at a better future. Over and over again  in history we see people striving and working together to improve lives. Alexander Hamilton and all workers for their individual causes don’t want to throw away their future. Nehemiah (2:20) said: “The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding…”

Of course we are to remember that any work that is not built with a firm foundation will fall. Psalm 127 reminds:

“Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.

Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.”

Nehemiah instructs his worker families to trust the Lord:  “Don’t be afraid of them [their enemies]. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”

In reading about Peter in a wonderful book by Michael Card,  “The Fragile Stone”, I understand more of why Jesus was building His church on the rock that Peter will become. That no matter how emotional, quick to anger, fragile, humanly human Peter was, Jesus built him up spiritually and forever, and commanded him to feed, strengthen and buildup “His sheep”…

Jesus builds and rebuilds us too. Jesus grows us, the Spirit protects us, God holds us in His LOVE.

It is a world of anxieties and strife that invades our peace, today more than ever. Yet, we are to rebuild our opportunity to establish peace, whether a wall of peace that brings families together, or an opportunity teaching peace which helps others have more reliance upon our Lord. We are to fear the Lord for His awesome power, outwardly focus and pray for others above our issues, and work knowing that He will protect, provide, and prosper our next generations.

Blessed are those who count their blessings and don’t let anxious times shake their faith. Keep praying forward.

Without God, we are laboring in vain. With God, we are laboring in LOVE.

With faith we won’t fall.

 

Amen

 

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Fight to improve our future, future for all!!!

Nehemiah 4:

When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews,  and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?”

3 Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building—even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!”

4 Hear us, our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. 5 Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders.

6 So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.

7 But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the people of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. 8 They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and stir up trouble against it. 9 But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.

10 Meanwhile, the people in Judah said, “The strength of the laborers is giving out, and there is so much rubble that we cannot rebuild the wall.”

11 Also our enemies said, “Before they know it or see us, we will be right there among them and will kill them and put an end to the work.”

12 Then the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times over, “Wherever you turn, they will attack us.”

13 Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows. 14 After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”

15 When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to our own work.

16 From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah 17 who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, 18 and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me.

19 Then I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “The work is extensive and spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. 20 Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there. Our God will fight for us!”

21 So we continued the work with half the men holding spears, from the first light of dawn till the stars came out. 22 At that time I also said to the people, “Have every man and his helper stay inside Jerusalem at night, so they can serve us as guards by night and as workers by day.” 23 Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes; each had his weapon, even when he went for water.

#882 – 22JUN

Psalm 121 – “Casting Crowns – Praise You In This Storm”

Storms… sometimes storms rage and we are in the middle and sometimes we have no idea, we might see them but not take the brunt of them because we are held or positioned just out of the fray. We sometimes see the aftermath,  but storms can be so localized that we have no idea the issue only a few miles or lives away.  There are storms… floods… tornadoes so specific… no clue… we often have no clue and live so locally. Life storms, whole catastrophes too. No clue.

I was camping (in a strong house) during a storm, it protected me. I got in from a walk just in time. Last month I didn’t,  I was caught in a rainstorm,  I huddled in an old stone house. I was protected.  I was fine. If I didn’t have that coverage I would have had a different story today. Tomorrow I will probably forget that storm even happened. But I will try to remember that I had coverage under His wing.

In life too. We are in storm season of late… But we are to remember that we have coverage under His wing.

So sometimes we also put ourselves into storms that are not ours to weather… But we are to remember that we have coverage under His wing.

We have coverage, the MIGHTY HAND OF GOD.

Psalm 121

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—

    where does my help come from?

2 My help comes from the Lord,

    the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot slip—

    he who watches over you will not slumber;

4 indeed, he who watches over Israel

    will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord watches over you—

    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

6 the sun will not harm you by day,

    nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all harm—

    he will watch over your life;

8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

—-

This song by Casting Crowns sings of praising the Lord in the storm, the lyrics include the first 2 lines of Psalm 121. https://youtu.be/0YUGwUgBvTU

—-

We are held.

I was sitting on the camp porch, beautiful day and barely remembering the storm that raged two nights before. Even the locals praised that storm because it brought needed rain in a localized near-drought this early summer. I didn’t even worry that night,  I wondered with awe at the thunder. I knew I was covered. I didn’t even close the windows.

Can we ALSO know today that we are covered by the MIGHTY Hand of the Lord? His protection is a promise. His reminder to watch our steps is because He is guiding them. We are really watching His protection in every good thing we experience, ALL GOOD THINGS ARE FROM HIM. and He is the only One we can turn to, to knock down those anxieties of life. By our looking at Him SHINE HOPE, we are reminding the storms themselves that WE CAN and WILL PRAISE HIM…

I was pondering (on that porch) a decision about something and I said to myself: “should I?” And as soon as I said: “I should,  BECAUSE I AM BLESSED” – WOW the clouds opened with an intense flash of sunlight. Wow Lord!!! You are in the minutiae of showing signs. You are the guidance of us, even when we don’t even know it. You go ahead. And what we do, or don’t do, compares but a fraction to what You have already done and will do for us. You save us from storms that DON’T happen, even MORE often than save us from storms that do. You go ahead of us. I believe that You hold us in Your hand, therefore we are to praise you in any storm, yes praise even louder above our fears. You are never asleep and allow us to rest. Your Work and Word saves.

When we lift our eyes unto to the hills, we can see HOPE and we might think how the mountains also block the storms. Even heavy clouds can’t rise above.  If they drop their rain,  they can be lighter and rise. We can too. We are lifted rather than weighted down if we drop our burdens to Jesus. We should always lift our eyes to see where we are – under the watchful eye of Our Lord.

Amen

KEEP PRAISING

Amen

 

#881, 20JUN

Fossil Found

I am the fossil I was looking for – I tried looking for a fossil here in the creek bed – but I forgot my glasses – I am old and need glasses – I am a fossil at fifty – I suppose that I am the fossil I was looking for.

I am the long walk I was looking for – I like to walk and look and be – no one wants to walk or look or be involved in this old-time family time much anymore with me – life is life walking away from kid things when we used to dig in the mud and hike the land – it walks away from when we had that kind of outside fun. I still would do that – I want to do that – I must be the long walk I am looking for.

I am the quiet that I am looking for – no one wants to stay out on the deck with me –  I have the opportunity and without cars it is peace-filled with the sound of peepers, peeping birds, prominent frogs – and a splash of geese retiring for the evening on the lake right in front of me. I am waiting and I am being the quiet in a world filled with good natural sounds, even the red squirrel has retired for the evening by climbing up a pipe to sleep in the roof section next to me on this deck. I am the quiet that I am looking for.

I am the shooting star that I am looking for – no light pollution and no more clouds – no rain and no snow – temperature is perfect to be out here tonight – no way I am going to miss this opportunity – I hope it is an opportunity because last time I actively looked for shooting stars I was scared off by a skunk. I hope that I do not become the “shoot, let me get out of here” star that I am not looking for.

I am the summer time that I am looking for. I have never had such an open summer – never had free time neither. I seemed to never had time for summer – this summer I am going to take/make/be time because I am going to be the summer time that I want. This summer I am going to do summer – enjoy summer – be summer. I am warming up to summer – I love summer.

I am the Milky Way that I want to see. I am one little speck of light in a sea of milky light. you can’t see the Milky Way unless you get yourself into the pureness of dark – you have to give up the light you usually thrive on – you have to allow yourself to be brave enough to be a lone quiet light and wait in the dark. I am waiting to see the Milky Way tonight – I want to see that there is light in the dark that is not seen in the light.

I want to be the light that was lit by the Light, the little light that shines. I am not the source of Light – but catch me on fire, Lord, and let me be the reflection of Your Light. Jesus, You are the Light I need to be, I want to be, I long to see. I am in the dark of me – fill me with Your Light of Thee.

Oh Jesus – let me see You be with me.

This summer, I will just try to be.

 

Amen

 

#880, 20JUN

God’s Consolations

I was driving a familiar road, to camp, up home. I anticipated what was around the bend. Life is not always like that. Bet merely 6 months ago you could have not predicted how today would be, and yet some of the constants in life are still here: the weather with it’s summer heat, the land responding to the weather, and an ever constant in the Lord responding to our needs.

In the unbelievable contrasts in life, there is nothing like our God who majestically just IS. Life changes, God doesn’t. There is no doubt that we are self-absorbed as humans, that we cry out like Old-Testament Job for what we perceive as torment and for those things we humanly want. What a contrast when people are idled and God is strong.

There is nothing and no one that compares to God. And when you stop worrying about human aspects of life, you are called to remember that God is still here – strong,  unchangeable, waiting for whatever God is waiting for.

I am at camp, it is private, golden, stilled, quiet, 200 acres nestled in miles of state forest. It is just amazing and just here. No kids camp this summer. I stood alone in a beautiful chapel, away from chaos of these worldly times, but feeling strong in the Lord’s Peace. Even though I did not have all the mental peace I wanted, I was standing in His Peace gifted to me to experience.  There is much reckoning with aging and fading, life purpose and pitfalls that place our minds in some chaos. It’s important to return to a place that still just IS. Yet, this place, the work at the hands of man, and all places of the earth will fade away. The Kingdom here on Earth will be renewed only on the Lord’s terms… The scripture I flipped to, in a Gideon’s Bible, is from Job 15:7-11:

“Are you the first man ever born?  Were you brought forth before the hills?  Do you listen in on God’s council?  Do you have a monopoly on wisdom?

“What do you know that we do not know?  What insights do you have that we do not have? The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men even older than your father. 

“Are God’s consolations not enough for you, words spoken gently to you?”

Thru my mind runs the wonder of nature, both green and human, it’s intense peace of aloneness that’s not alone. Contrasts abound between nature and the man-made world… When it may seem so different, idleness is not so idle when nature continues without man’s influence. Last night intense thunderstorms cropped up, it was needed rain. God is letting His creation be, live and continue.

Our lives seem so real and big to us. How much bigger is God? There’s not even an answer big enough to answer that. Job was asked if he knew everything that God knew. He didn’t, we don’t.

God knows all and if we don’t take a moment to let God handle the worry of our lives, what could we possibly accomplish that He won’t. What possibly could we save that He hasn’t already. 

How and why do we wrestle with God’s plan for us also, when we should humbly just be. If the hills can be so intensely beautiful and real with life, can we navigate the bend in the road for our lives? What’s around the bend is still God’s plan. Let’s continue to be consoled by Him. Let us continue to seek His peace. God loves us so much, He has made the road back to Him, of course there will be bends in it, but He knows the path.

Change happens, but God IS.

How will this road end? Perhaps it is best to think of how it doesn’t. Our Lord Jesus was sent to forgive, to place us back into God’s Kingdom, to teach love. Jesus loved us before we knew of Him. If we accept Jesus then we can walk with His Love. We have these words of consolation: Jesus saves, Jesus knows the Way. Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Life.

Keep living, for life is in you. Continue to live.

Keep looking for God around the bend.

Keep Jesus in heart and hand, for He already has kept His promise to God to bring us consolidated in the Kingdom. That is God’s consolation to us.

Continue around the bend.

Amen

#879, 03JUN

Grandma’s Stitches

It’s hard to break up a house,  my neighbor’s children are now dividing and tossing, but very slowly as they have much work and many memories to sort and ponder. I didn’t actually know this neighbor, except only that she gave cans of soda and big juice boxes for Halloween night, what a GREAT reputation, one for the ages, according to my children!

She passed away last month, age 80 plus, declining, after living in her house for probably 50 plus years…  In a roundabout way, I was given her classic embroidered tablecloth doilies which apparently didn’t make the “keep pile”. I washed, bleached and ironed them. How beautiful. Maybe I will someday find them a home, simple designs and simple stitches but hard work and beautiful examples of a craft of old… recent old, but still, those times seemingly would have felt more still than life now.

I always embroidered as a kid, at Grandma’s house, so did all my male cousins and brother, a great rainy or snowy day activity. Sit down and make cross stitches on a stamped pattern. I still have a pillowcase that my Grandmother made for me, a doll with a pink doily skirt. I have a little duck swatch made by my brother. All these are tucked away. Mentally I can see myself sitting on the 1970’s couch practicing my stitches, I can feel it in my fingers.

Women learn and work in double time, even when resting – they sat down to practice their alphabets and numbers in olden times of the 1700’s and 1800’s, it was part of their education to practice their stitches in “samplers”.  These doilies from my neighbor are decorative, and I have now pressed and folded them. As classic Grandma’s stitches, what do they represent?  They represent her hands working while her body was resting.  They are Grandma’s “DOWN TIME”, Grandma’s precious little “me time”. Grandma surely had VERY LITTLE “down time”.

My own sewing Grandma had a farm and 5 kids, 6 grandkids, her down time was earned. My Grandma was not known to have any religious background, but I can imagine that her thoughts were filled with her busy life when she sat stitching away and sorting through her thoughts. Grandma’s stitches are her own way of thinking thru life. Grandma could also “think work” while others or the TV talked in the background. Grandma could have some time to just be.

Looking at the precious french knots on these, I know they are a mini art that required practice. Looking at the vibrant colors 50 plus years later, these are simple beautiful. They lasted 50 years, but won’t last forever.

Look what holds up best in time, not Grandma’s stitches but her prayers for our lives. Prayer lasts forever in time. I can imagine how Grandma might say: someday my child will pass this to their children... Someday perhaps my grandchildren will know how much work their ancestors put into them having a better life… Yes, any child to raise and any stitch to sew might represent precious time that this particular or any Grandma would have welcomed into time to pray. We are blessed with things and lives our Grandparents would have dreamed about. How strongly their prayers worked. Our lives are vibrant and fulfilled in ways they wished and worked.

How could each stitch we NOW make in our own mental downtime become a prayer? For now and the future. Whether sewing machine or embroidery stitch, whether passing thought or purposeful practice, mentally we can meet with our Holy Stitch-maker every day… God has knit our hearts together before we are born, He knows us and we are to know Him. He can run His Graces over our lives in a Way that feel even better than when we run our hands over embroidery stitches. He can admire His Work. He can see and feel His Love placed in our lives. Can we?

The Lord can see simple stitches which He has combined to make an elaborate pattern we call life, and He can see deep in thru time, where He has made a mesh of beautiful moments. We can also appreciate that there are people who work hard tidying up the frayed ends of life to set things right for all. Thru it all,  God provides His Word as a crucial Healing Thread.

How hard my Grandma (and Grandpa) worked, all my family, and how amazing  stitching downtime was work too. How precise and precious all these little stitches are, and even the backs are neat, secured to endure. How my memories secure me to know that my amazing ancestors worked so very hard to secure my future and my heritage with their background of work ethic.

And of course we are to remember how short earthly life is, how all threads will be removed from any deep tangles of life and reset into His Kingdom.  “All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the Lord blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” Isaiah 40.

We are secured, eternally, thru Jesus, held for preservation into our Father’s House.  How Holy Spirited our Creator works in His Way. How precise and precious. How carefully we are given into this world for this time – “That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ;  In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Colossians 2

Keep stitching your life while weaving His Story. Keep praying His Legacy for Your children. Keep the faith, for we are all are already stitched into His Kingdom. 

Amen

878, 14JUN

Jesus Knows What is in Our Hearts

Amen Amen…

“Jesus knows what is on our hearts”.

I read and lived that sentence tonight and instantly my room light clicked off. That timing for my light’s timer is timeless. I saw it as a signal it was time to get to sleep and rest. It was also a sentence of truth to comfort, to counterbalance conviction. Jesus knowingly wanted to soothe my soul and address any dread in my racing thoughts from the day – did I do right? Did I risk things? Did I mess up? Did I fail to act… Know that with Jesus it’s about motivation,  it is truly the thought that counts. Jesus knows what is on our hearts and in our hearts. He understands and wants us to move forward.

“Jesus knows what is on our hearts” was apt for Peter, rambunctious Peter, for he too is rash. Rash moves, emotional reactions, imperfections galore.

A great reminder of a heart who is human. We are human too. Jesus knows… Jesus forgives…

Forgiveness from Jesus is both for sins knowingly committed, and the oops too. The mess ups and the sins of omission as well. Shoulda, coulda, woulda. It’s the secrets shared only with the Lord that can give the quiet calm where there should be waves of storms lashing you.

Lord, we all pray forgiveness for all we do and don’t.

The Word is the final Word, as well as the beginning. Alpha and Omega. “Jesus knows what is on our hearts”.

Psalm 51:9-12  Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation….

And renew a right Spirit within me.

Amen

877, 10JUN

Net Your Strawberries and Guard Your Heart

Was it worth 20 minutes extra drive and $6 of netting to protect $5 worth of strawberries from the birds? Tasting the taste of today – YES!

These are precious moments remembering garden toiling for 2 plus years, even if for only 2 weeks of taste. I had to save what I started. And now that tis the season of strawberries, I have to physically take the time to harvest them too.

Unbelievable! I need to guard my strawberries from those hungry birds…. blocking some strawberries is not depriving the birds of life-giving food, as they feast plenty-fine at the neighbor’s feeders,  so protecting my crop for me seems appropriate.

God protects His crop too.

God nets His flock.

God goes after His heart, which is all of us.

—

We all need to guard our hearts, as everything we do flows from our hearts.

We all need to balance.

We all need to serve while keeping sacred Whom we ultimately serve.

We need to build strength reserve so that we can serve. Perpetuate peace.

Protect what we hold in our hearts, all while giving our all.

The sweetest outcome for the Lord is to build peace, and see the fruits of His labor from His long planned devotion to His mission: net all of us so we come home. Home Sweet Home.

Amen

 

---

 

Proverbs 4:20-23 My son, pay attention to what I say; turn your ear to my words.  Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to one’s whole body.  Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.

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Phillpians 4:4-9 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

#876, 08JUN

I Don’t Have All the Answers

I have lots of ideas, many good ideas. However, I doubt that I’m supposed to have ALL the answers, but it’s upsetting to me when I don’t. That’s natural of course,  we want to help, know, act. Lately I’ve realized that perhaps I’m NOT supposed to have all the answers and when it’s clear to me that my mind is BLANK, it’s not for lack of TRYING, it’s from a lack of RELYING ON THE LORD TO FIGURE  IT OUT.

Actually I realize more and more the things I don’t understand… so, maybe I’m dumbfounded on purpose or have a block or because someone else is supposed to shine with their idea? (yes that has happened a few times lately) Yes, it is MORE important that an answer is found than for me coming up with it! It’s more important the praying out than how it plays out for me.  My job? KEEP THE FAITH.

Now I’ve been ruminating about important things to me, but not things of everyone’s concern. I even stress over broken situations I didn’t bring about, but still think it’s up to me to fix. What do you think I should do, what we should do in our own dilemmas? KEEP THE FAITH. Keep the walk and keep trusting.

And (clearly with many world examples) even if things go haywire on any terms – small or large scale – what should we do? CALL OUT TO GOD, and KEEP THE FAITH.

Of course, as I was thinking of these unknown answers in me, the Holy Spirit had me pull a loose thread of my lack of knowledge, my earnest attempts to learn, and I realized while reading a “scripture of the day” that I had never heard the scriptures from Habakkuk. And WOW… the answer that grows in Prophet Habakkuk’s conversations with God is : “KEEP THE FAITH” !!!

The awesome video teaching from “The Bible Project” reminds that in everything, we are to keep the faith:  https://youtu.be/OPMaRqGJPUU

Fabulous Faith Forever Fulfilling…

Keep the Faith

Pull the strings of unknown, but meditate on the known: God has a plan. In strife  and good times, KEEP THE FAITH.

Amen

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The book of Habakkuk offers hope to people – BibleProject™

https://bibleproject.com/explore/habakkuk/

 

#875, 07JUN

Dive In for Jesus

My Word… how blessedly we can dive right into the life stories of Jesus. My deliberate pace thru the 4 gospels, with commentary by Michael Card in His Biblical Imagination series, has been a joy of learning. There’s no better way to learn about your faith than thru His Word. His story is our story, His disciples are our teachers. His life is worth learning. He is the Alpha and Omega. He’s the Word worth taking in.

The gospel of John was written when John was very old, recounting the stories and teachings from his witness as the “disciple Jesus loved” as a teenager, from his life with second-mother Mary, and the other disciples. John spent volumes of time teaching. We are able to dive in to be alive with these stories and we can fish for our lives as well as our direction, our hope.

John 20 concludes His Gospel teachings of the Resurrection of Jesus on that first Easter morning and John 21 adds a few more stories about their fishing after Jesus rose. Jesus watched them fish all night, empty nets. One direction from Jesus and their nets were full. This mirrored the same way that Jesus gave direction and encouraged the disciples the first day He met them and other times. This repetition of direction overfilled their nets, again.

How fitting that His encouragement fills our nets as well, with resources, fulfillment, faith and food of life.  Peter dove right into the water that morning when he learned it was Jesus on shore, nothing could keep him in that boat and he swam the Sea of Galilee to see his friend. We too must dive in full force into our future. Jesus provides and Jesus calls… in this day, and always, Jesus is already here. No long term wait, He’s prepared today for us, and started us with daily bread.

Jesus gives directions to His disciples and to us for where to catch fish. He gives us moments and tools to harvest what others have seeded and the Lord has grown. Jesus already knows where the fish are. Once the catch of the day is made, we are able to be Peter-like and dive into His Divine Presence. Each new day will be another day for Peter to fish for men. Likewise for us, each morning will be the best time to fill our hearts and souls with Jesus knowledge for the tasks ahead. Take one day at a time.

Go seek Jesus and learn how He has been watching for you, always, and waiting for you each morning with nourishment for the day’s tasks.

Listen to Jesus and learn where you best cast your nets.

Fill yourself with Jesus as Word and be filled.

DIVE INTO EVERYTHING JESUS IS!!!

Amen

 

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John 21:1-14

Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Galilee. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.

Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.

He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”

“No,” they answered.

He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards.  When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.”  So Simon Peter climbed back into the boat and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.

#874, 04JUN

I Wonder

I wonder about excessive forgiveness… how much is excessive.  How much is enough? I wonder. Perhaps a better term to use is EXTRAVAGANT forgiveness, yes that is a fitting word for the WORD.

Jesus, risen from the dead, breathing on the disciples with the Holy Spirit, said: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them, if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” (John 20)

Jesus wants us to display forgiveness, therefore I don’t think that there is anything that could be called excessive in forgiveness, since our gift of forgiveness is EXTRAVAGANT. And therefore, whatever is not forgiven remains unforgiven. We best to tap into Jesus to help us forgive what we can not.

Jesus IS the definition of excessive forgiveness. Jesus in death and life is the excessive gift of the Father How can He not be called excessive, He blessed even the people who killed Him.

Jesus came to cover all sins. How unfathomable. How unreal. How, I wonder, could anyone model that level of deep forgiveness. ONLY with the Holy Spirit and ONLY by the Holy Spirit.

Mercy is to be loved. With whose love? The Spirit.

Justice is to be sought. How? Rely on the Spirit.

Humbleness is to be walked. Who leads? The Spirit.

Ignore the Spirit and ignore life everlasting. We need to breathe Spirit,  live Spirit,  love Spirit.

Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit after Easter morning because He had no human breath left. And He used His breath to forgive. He had the ONLY the breath needed, the ultimate breath of the Holy Spirit. One with the Father, One for all. One breath forever alive.

I wonder,  how we can ever move forward in anything? Follow.

I wonder, how can we forgive? Breathe.

Listen. Speak.

Breathe easier, we are given the work of the Holy Spirit.

We wonder, He works.

I wonder in wonder of the great “I AM.”

We wonder, but He IS.

Amen

873

The Fray, 02Jun

I often wonder why we can be blessed to be born and continue to live above the fray of hardships of poverty, unrest, physical pain (for now, thanks Lord for the hedge of protection). It’s not that I worked hard at these, except I have been taught to know to work to keep myself and my family to stay away from the fray.

We are blessed, always, no matter our circumstances.

Sheltered or hiding from world problems? We do have that ability, to block out the world, to find solitary isolated places, especially by shutting off the news. But how much should we go solve the world problems? How much are we supposed to venture out or hunker down? There is only one source of solution that works, WORK for THE LORD. And no matter safe or scared, isolated or inundated, we still must work for the Lord and tell of His Good News.

Right now, do we make do with a new view or make anew a mission, old or new? I sort thru these dilemmas in my head.  When I taught vacation bible school,  my thoughts were that my job was to equip the next generation with the seeds of knowledge of Jesus and His mission. No VBS this year – yet. So, as ever, my writings may have pulled me closer into peace by settling me down. But why continue writing and sharing, in this 51^st chapter?  I’m pretty sure that even if I don’t see the impact,  someday somehow God will use the fact that I wrote – was forced to write – and wanted to share. His sharing is beyond my understanding. I’m not the first writer – it is just that I am just the curator of His peace within me.

What about entering the fray? Even my worry about losing the cat sometimes blocks my path from leaving the house, or causes me to figure out how to sneak out the back door. Maybe I’m not supposed to cut off the fray but sew it together so it is not unruly and make the fabric potentially lost. The fray of fabric can be overstitched by my serger sewing machine, so perhaps the life fray fears and foibles are the same. The Lord saves me from my own human fray. Yes, the Lord stitches the world’s people into His love, He makes the fray manageable for another day. He overlocks the loose ends of people’s lives with His love. The serger overlock machine will cut off the fabric edges off with a sharp knife. We too must be willing to cut back some of our excess living while being secured by the Lord into His giant patchwork quilt project He calls earth. Sew two pieces of lives together and you have doubled the expanse of the width of the fabric. Stitch out to share the Word of God and watch Him sew His quilt bigger and bigger. Our Father, the Vinedresser, will prune us to bear more fruit. (John 15)

The Word will spread. We are to partition our lifestyles into usefulness that is uniquely gifted to us to do our part. The fruit we are given is for sharing. He will equip us and bless us.

It’s the Lord who keeps us close to Him, thankfully.  Impact is His. He makes stepping stones of opening opportunities… I will never know which opportunities were mine to miss. I best to mine the opportunities to make the most of my life. For Him. For Him.  He is the goldmine of purpose.

Someday I will reach into the fray more. And remind the world who will reach out too.

Pray for the fray.

Pray for those who reduce the fray, every day it needs tucking together into peace.

Pray for realization that we need our future. GOD NEEDS US TO CONTINUE.

Keep working for the Lord. Every big and little stitch.

Amen

 

872, 31MAY

Holy Spirit, Thank You for My Life

“Alexa, when is Pentecost?”

“Pentecost is today.”

I placed my hand out to RISE UP from sleep, knowing that I needed to RISE to write and my hand SMACK-landed on my vacation bible school lessons paper next to me: “Zing! The Holy Spirit”

The VBS paper states that God gives us what we need, in order to share about Him. My favorite part of listening to people talk is when they say “Thank God”

THANK GOD!

Why are we alive? TO THANK AND LOVE GOD. Seriously,  why have we been given breath today? To share the GOOD NEWS… Jesus’s Life-giving life, death, life is because HE HAD TO COME AND GO… We needed the Holy Spirit. We want the Holy Spirit to move us. We are to be the Holy Spirit’s RUSTLE today,  not our hustle but HIS rustle…

The disciples were surprised by Jesus, and surely by the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2) and we too can be SURPRISED by living in this life – the goal in life could be to overcome the odds stacked against us,  to rise to a comfortable living, enjoy people and position and possessions – OR to realize then use our comfort, our position, our possessions and our lives to be a blessing to others – especially to be HOLY SPIRIT- MOVED to meet the people WHO NEED TO RISE BY KNOWING JESUS. JOY in Jesus, the HOPE THAT REALLY HELPS.

I am feeling so blessed and pray a hedge of protection around my life and my family’s life… and I ask the Lord,  “WHY? Why do I have this seeming oasis of home blessings?” At 1st, especially with all the turmoil in the world, especially since we have NO IDEA what volumes of sadness exists when as it is not experienced by us, I thought it’s kind of like SURVIVOR GUILT but instead it’s like SURVIVOR JOY.. .  Jesus wants us to have SURVIVOR JOY!!! He didn’t die to demonstrate iniquity in His World but stepped into the fire for He knew. He lived to demonstrate that He is the Way out of iniquity for all, by spreading peace.

In life we have a Lord who brings JOY…

In death we have life, thru a Savior who brings me LIFE and thus JOY…

JOY!!!

Just like they say there’s enough food in the world, plenty, but it’s a “distribution problem” – can’t get it to people – I believe that it is the same way with JOY – there’s total JOY in Jesus, because there is total PEACE in Jesus. So your internal peace is not for idling, but to catch your breath, a breath of Holy Spirit. Then go back out to share and spread PEACE.

So how do we get it there? How do we share all there is to share???  HOLY SPIRIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SMACK, place your hands down and rise to the moment to share HIS LOVE in a smile,  in a gift, in a help, in a Word, in a witness, in standing by with support,  in making the world a better place…

Don’t worry,  the Holy Spirit will be with you.

“Pentecost is EVERY DAY”

Holy Spirit – move me today!

AMEN!!!

—-

Fittingly in this play on Words, Act 1 is Jesus,  Act 2 is Holy Spirit… the next Act is me and you!

 

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them. (Act 2)

871, 27MAY

Eyes AND Hand to the Plow

Jesus replied, “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

I was made aware of another delicate step thru my faith journey. I had wondered what I would see and learn during my long car ride, and God did not disappoint.  I had to take a detour, onto the longer road, the road less traveled, as the turnpike was closed, and I had to slow down around those bendy farmland curves. I saw beautiful countryside and life at a different pace with amish farms, cows, green hills. I saw myself in none of these, as I am a fast paced person, but I appreciate both paces. However I did see a teaching moment revealed in path for my faith, when I saw a woman in a small field with an old fashioned plow, wearing a bonnet and long skirt, certainly not old gardening clothes but wearing what was expected of her, complete coverings in warm weather, yet she still did the necessary work… and I saw she was walking VERY slow. Why? Because she had her hand AND eyes firmly fixed to the plow. She had her hand to the plow and nothing broke her concentration. My concentration wanders, and my driving trip was my own type of plowing and I was trying to NOT second guess myself, I am always second guessing myself.

Jesus: “No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.”

In doing His work, Jesus says don’t look back, DON’T. If you look back, surely you will plow haphazard and be pulled to places unknown,  you will be pulled all out of sorts. In faith, we must plow ahead. If we look back and second guess we are risking forward progress, just look and work forward. Serve the Kingdom ahead. Serve where you are planted. Sow your land that was gifted to you to plant. Work with the tools you are given.

Here’s a crucial part of many folks faith journeys, that it is OK to be NOT on the fast track. It is OK to walk slow but walk with sure footing. This amish woman was watching her work and walking with EXTREME focus and that required an appropriately slow and steady speed. Her face was determined, she was EXTREMELY in step with her role, she studied her plow and her steps.  She didn’t look back nor look haphazardly off to the side or look so outstretched to somewhere too far ahead. SHE FOCUSED ON HER WORK AT HAND. No matter how slow, old-fashioned, seemingly inefficient it seemed to me zipping along in my car,  it was her job that day, perhaps only a few hours within a busy day, to plow. And her instruments were sufficient for the size of the plot and it was in keeping with her chosen lifestyle. And I bet it will produce a bountiful crop because of her attentiveness. Even a small crop is pleasing to the Lord when it yields more than was sown.

Our faith needs focus and follow thru. AND not to anticipate too far ahead. Once we commit to the Lord’s work there is no turning back. And we can’t harvest fruit until we take the time to prepare our fields, tend our fields, be in our fields.  Faith is not a spectator sport. Even if we don’t know what will sprout from our plowing, when we earnestly fit our faith work into the context of our lives, with the intent to serve, surely we will be making progress…. Better yet, if we let the Lord plan our lives, He will be making progress… (Remember we may not see the crop ourselves)… God knows where to send the rain, to farmers who prepare. Today, this farmer laid down a beautiful set of straight rows, and unlike plowing like a bull in a china shop, I of all people need to keep watch to step delicate and always be true.

Another crucial crystallized thought: How often do we REDO our own work, not looking back but doubling back to the same routine, when we should be looking for new work, new fields to sow. How often God does change our scenery if we travel long enough on the same road, within a short time we will be set to work our same skills with new souls.  How often does God use the detours of life, unplanned as well as asking us to take risk purposefully by taking the road less traveled, or to plow into a new field. How often do we see wasted time as wasted,  but the Lord sees it differently.  Even fallow fields are required to rest. We can always pray instead of stew. Perhaps God’s timing is waiting for our obedience rather than the other way around.

The Lord makes time, He can stretch it, slow it, and He can make all our time worth His time. So should we slow or stretch our time as well, make it into time well spent, even if it giving quiet time to let seeds sprout. Sometimes the best plan is to listen and be still.

We shall sow and sow we will in His time, on His land, for His people.

Our journey picking up our faith walks, and never knowing what lies ahead, could become like the women that first Easter morning who stepped into darkness with minimal light and hope after Jesus was laid to rest. They still plowed ahead with their journey to anoint a dead body, they plowed ahead even in danger, without any expectation of the glorious Easter moment ahead – of SEEING THE RISEN CHRIST. Jesus startled them for sure. I am sure when we continue our faith walks, Jesus will startle us as well, with HOPE, LIGHT, and GRACE. When we know that all we did was plow, we will know that He was the one who walked us into growth.

Keep plowing forward.

Amen

 

 

#870, 27MAY

My Faith in Faith

My faith, where is it? My laundry list of health worries, life worries,  project worries, why don’t I list my faith as my first agenda item to work on?

A faith ailment is worse than anything I could catch.

God’s faith in me is strong. How about my faith in Him? It’s not a question of whether, it’s a question of if. My faith is the big IF.  Everything else will fall into place, IF I listen, IF I catch on that FAITH in Him is all I need.

For me,  for example,  when I’m worried about anything that impacts my joy, it really means I might worry without working on the tasks at hand. I worry and God waits for me to stop worrying. God asks me to keep walking and keep still and listen. I cover my bases, back track to cover my steps, yet nothing else is better than to be covered by nestling under His Wing (read Psalm 91 for sure).

God waits for me to stop worrying and get worshiping.  I can’t fix anything with worry.  Let me praise first, no matter what, our praise solves more.

God can fix everything (even if it not seen until eternity) with our walking WITH Him. God will fix our worries by us having more child-like faith. God will be God regardless of circumstances. If we mess up, God will give us words to help. If we praise even our pain, God is ready to help. God is ready to steady, can we rise to believe that? God will come to us, even deep in our low places, that I know.

God, Lord God, please show me what I need to know. Please give me the strength to believe in You to the ends of my dust and Your earth

Amen

---

 

Psalm 91

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with his feathers. and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday. A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you. You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.

If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling, no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent. For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

---

 

Luke 12:25-31

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

“Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them.  But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

 

 

869, 26MAY

Other Concerns Out Compete Covid19

My weekend brought out a microcosm of concerns! Wow, I pray a hedge of retro protection for sure! I appreciate prayers from prayer warriors, it’s only God who can handle the healing,  hand out hope, hold our hearts whole… Hands and hearts, hold them up for the Lord, in the Lord, with the Lord.

Thanks

———-

Keep your summer safe!

I didn’t stay home and worry about catching COVID19 this weekend, I did get out – and had a great time – although I know I had to spend time concerned about a few other dangers – namely poison ivy (twice), sunburn, Lyme ticks, E.coli, listeria, salmonella, asbestos and oh yes, don’t forget about bubonic plague! WOW what a weekend!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, I dealt with each concern as they came – I will likely forget today’s troubles tomorrow (each day can worry about itself) – I don’t shy away from living – I did remember my common sense (I hope) and I dared to live life. One of the biggest concerns if you don’t get out and exercise is diabetes, so I made sure I got my walks in!  Ticks – got to check yourself! Check! Sunscreen? Check that box too and wear a hat! My gardening was interesting with avoiding poison ivy in my friend’s yard and pulling it out in mine. You have to step carefully, wash immediately, and watch especially scrapes for signs of outbreak for this is a VERY common ailment! At that moment, I didn’t worry about an inkling about anything else compared to poison ivy! It is all about perspective!

Let’s talk picnic time! I was so happy to see my neighbors place their salads on ice – and those tasty eggs were cooked very well – check and check for highly reducing potential risks of listeria and salmonella…  Delicious foods and delicious burgers – of course you have to watch out for E. coli with raw hamburger meats – keep the raw meats in plastic and BELOW the prepared foods in the fridge. wash all surfaces! And that delicious burger? I always take it WELL DONE at picnics (hey don’t tell the host if I might step into their kitchen and nuke it for a minute too!)…  Did I mention COVID19 yet, the SARS2 virus? This is going to be in the world for a while – no matter what the precautions, it is a big unknown. I am a big fan of mask wearing (not everyone is) but any time we can reduce splattering germs around is good. Yes, compliance with social distancing, reduced store visits, and letting no one or minimal folks into my house except my immediate family all should help. Which brings me to asbestos, yes asbestos, the wonderful material that was so useful in the 50’s is now such a hassle in the present. The work in my house (before this self-isolation time) covered the asbestos tiles and there was no harm no foul. Construction was shut down for a time but now that we are emerging into both the construction allowable phase at SUMMER, it was time to get a new air conditioner (installed by my properly masked contractor). He was very self-isolated too, so I worried minimally about COVID19, but asbestos??? So to minimize asbestos exposure I wet mopped the area as dust reduction technique. With asbestos you won’t know for 30 plus years if you had been breathing too much. By then I will be nearing 80, I probably will worry much less about asbestos then. I’ll worry about that when/if I make 80!

Did I forget anything? Oh yes, bubonic plague – not really but I always think of it when I see mice and mice droppings.  And so the shed clean out was good and yet was icky…  there will be some confused mice when they can’t find that home in the corner of the shed now.  Seriously the warnings on hantavirus in droppings are scary. I stopped writing this piece once I read about hantavirus and just simply got up from my computer and got on my knees to pray to the Lord for some retro protection. I really really really like living. I really really really like to protect my family. I really really really like to know that I did what I could with a crazy busy life and ALL these worries.

Where is the boat Jesus? – I want to get in Your boat and not mine. I will worry less with You – I will live forever with You – I will live well now with Your protection. I will just choose You over stress-eating and over stress-stressing. I will remember God’s mercy and believe – really really really I want to believe in your healing Lord and in your pre-healing prevention and protection.

Thanks for letting make my prayer vent – that is good for my mental health too – to think that I can have prayers is a comfort. To KNOW that I have the Lord is really my joy, my strength, and my rest.

Thanks Lord for You.

Whew.

You.

Amen

868, 26MAY

He Gave Up His Spirit

Jesus, as told in the gospel of John, gave up His Spirit, knowing He had fulfilled the scriptures, knowing Our Father had set out a plan for His glory.  Jesus did not give up His Hope, His Mission,  His Life. Jesus is Life, therefore Jesus gave OF His Life by handing out His Spirit to all.

Jesus knew His body gave out, but He did not give His Spirit to just dissipate away to nothing, instead purposely He was invigorated in His ability to shepherd His flock.

Since we must open the door of our own lives to the Lord, and hear His voice, we must give away our hardened hearts and be filled with renewed Spirit. We must recognize this influx of His Spirit come to comfort and create us anew. We must welcome walking with no hesitation.

Jesus was stilled on the cross. He gave up the ghost.  Jesus needed us to be filled with Spirit because of His full-filled life purpose. We have Jesus in our hearts, Spirit in our souls. Fear not, feel fulfillment. Be fully His.

We have God and God has us.

He will NEVER give up us.

Amen

867, 22MAY

Jesus Follow Thru

Jesus Himself could have walked away from His own mission, BUT HE DIDN’T. Perhaps He would have decided to keep teaching for as many years as His Father would have let him, but He knew the time was drawing near and He knew His sacrifice for sake of His Father, Our Father. We may watch the days of the calendar, but the truth is: Jesus wants us to number our days by our walking with Him.

These days in the news we are reading about nurses and healthcare workers under intense stress, watching and endangered to catch illnesses which scare them to death. But they walk back into their work each day. Can we support them? Can we ease the burdens of these souls who walk into danger every day? Theirs is a calling. What’s our calling for helping others? Jesus call us to rest, then step according to His Will.

These days I am reading in the last verses of the gospel of John 19, not yet Easter in John 20, and so it is excruciating reading about the torture, the cast of characters around the crucifixion, the political moves that positioned an innocent man as sacrifice, then as pawn for chaos, and now in verse 26 we see the re-gifting of Mary as a mother to young John, and John as a son to Mary. John and Mary each have new paths ahead of them but a reliance connection needed to take care of each other. We too are gifted others in support and buffer to walking bumpy roads.

Jesus came to connect us to our Loving Father for eternity.  It’s the core of our walk, to be walking to HOME.

Our paths are varied, uphill, downhill and thru unknown terrain. Jesus is always shoring up our path. Let us stay on the path. (Cue the Keith Green song.)

Constantly sacrifice is needed for our obedience to God’s will, to stay on the path. To demonstrate to BOTH demons and human watchers that we KNOW Whom is in control. If we are unsure,  we should not guess our steps but pray the Holy Spirit to help, to watch the path unfold. We must TRUST the path the Lord has spoken into our lives. We must step IN STEP, like Jesus did.  It’s a sacrifice not of life but the things that weigh us down.

I’m blessed to know so many people who are devoted to the Lord, I also know many who aren’t and we have the blessed opportunity to pray that they uncover their own path to walk with Him. Keep faith to show others that you are not shaken in your faith.

If we lay our own path, it will be bumpy and off to unknown lands. If we let Jesus lay our path, it will be sanctioned from above and sure. Most importantly, even if we go thru tough times, our path will always point us HOME.

“It is Finished” John 19:30

Jesus finished His own earthly walk, but was His walk done? No.

Jesus steps ahead to walk EVERYONE HOME.

Jesus refuses to leave us. Jesus stays forever without knowing the day or the hour He will come back again, but His Spirit has been laid into our hearts, knit into our souls. As Jesus knew that the old testament scriptures had been fulfilled, He stepped across His own life bridge to Heaven to fulfill His own Writing as a New Testament to Life, Truth, and the Way. As He Fulfilled the Scriptures, Jesus is OUR FULFILLMENT TOO.

PRAISE YOU JESUS FOR YOUR FOLLOW THRU. PRAISE YOU JESUS FOR HOLDING ONTO US.

May we lean into our walk and reach for You. You gave up Your Spirit and gained all of ours for the Kingdom.

Amen Amen

Amen

#866, 22MAY

If I Had a Choice, 22MAY

If I had a choice,  I’d choose freedom,  But I don’t always exercise my freedom wisely.

If I had a choice, I’d choose obedience, I’d choose devotion to God’s Will. I do have a choice because God gave me free will. But I don’t always submit to God like I should. I don’t always turn down the freedom of free will, I usually pay the price when I don’t follow God.

If I had a choice, I’d choose Jesus.  I’d choose life thru Him. I’d choose salvation because I need it. I’d choose freedom from sin because I have it. There is no say in my salvation except to say “I surrender” – “I need my Savior”.  I don’t always appreciate like I should that Jesus will take it the rest of the Way.

If I had a choice, I’d close my mouth from bickering but open it for praise.

If I had a choice,  I’d close my ears to painful distracting bickering, but try to listen to Jesus reminding me that I am saved.

If I had a choice, I’d close my eyes to disaster, but keep my eyes open to His workings.

If I had a choice, I’d keep choosing.

If I had a choice, I’d choose Jesus all over again.

If I had Jesus, I’d realize that I never didn’t have Him. I’d realize that He chose me.  I was chosen. He chooses us.

Jesus could have been given a choice to save us. His choice was made in the beginning. He knew the end. He chose the cross over the collapse of the world. He chose choosing. He chose chasing and catching sheep. Jesus will never lose those He’s given.

Jesus chooses all.

Jesus chooses you.

Amen

#865, 20MAY

2 Angels

“Is this your first pandemic?” Asked the one angel to another cloud cushioned angel. “No, but the first one that I’m watching from afar. You see, usually I was on the ground holding people’s hands, putting secret money in pockets for surprises, guiding pets to comfort their people just at the right time… see that tissue pack positioned just so? That was me.”

“Really? What’s your task this pandemic?”

“Watching a writer. Watching her write. See, she knows what Jesus is all about, she knows how she should share this immense knowledge of truth that things will be ok, that all will get to heaven OK, if they only believe… see, she worries that there’s too much bickering in the world, too much distraction and not enough simple sharing of the truth of love. She worries the message will get lost in the fray.”

“Are you surprised that she is stressing about people? She seems to care deeply. She knows that only God can sort things out, right?”

“Yes, she knows and yet she has to remind herself over and over again.”

“So why are you just sitting there on this cloud, being still? Shouldn’t you just jump down there and do something else to make her do something?”

“No. It’s only when she writes that she sits still, I need her to sit and process, otherwise she’s moving and moving.  If I sit, she will sit. If I can be still, a busy angel be still and demonstrate that the Lord is in control, then she will be still…. I  know that she will move again,  but now,  just now, she has to just BE.”

“So you are watching her just BE.”

“Yup. No better place to position a bee than just have her BE. Be in prayer. Be in pause. Be in praise. Be in belief. Be in tune… (See that tissue pack? I placed it weeks ago in her car, knew she would need it just right now. Therapeutic tears means living water repriming of her system,  shedding the stress.)”

“Be loved little bee, be loved. Be in peace. Be prepared. Be good. Be you. Be. Bee.”

“Hey. Thanks for the cloud chat, I see she just now got a text from a friend who prompted her with joy and direction just as she was finishing writing. You saw that Holy Spirit move just then, right? You just saw that inspired text about a VBS sing-a-long right?”

“Truth”

“So pandemic or no pandemic, VBS or no VBS, the VBS Spirit flowing just moved her back to focus on spreading the love of Jesus. She won’t be without her bee.”

“Truth”

“I think she’s ready to rejoin the world now. She’s just got to send that writing email to friends who really care to hear bee being bee… and now she will be back to bee-ing herself.”

“So, see you next cloud chat. I’ll be excited to see what you are helping her with next. Get your rest, that bee looks to be getting busy. Keep reminding her that there’s nothing she can do to share the love of Jesus more than just to be – BE HIS.”

“TRUTH!!! Bee be blessed…”

😉

 

864

Spiderman Slime

New science experiment lesson for both young and old. When Spiderman jumps from place, he swings, on what? A web that he shoots out by throwing his arm up and out. He then trusts that web to hold him as he swings, especially when he is getting out of danger, or sending web to rescue someone else.

Isn’t that true for believing in Jesus? For putting our trust in God and in Jesus? When you are called to step out in faith, when you have to give up your own agenda and when  you need to be rescued, you must trust in Him, not in your own understanding of the steps to take in life. Just like Naaman, you must immerse fully in faith,  just like Peter you must leave your life and gain His, just like everyone and Spiderman you must swing out in faith yourself and trust that Jesus will catch you, AND JESUS WILL!!!

Spiderman slime is pretend, for fun, and yet a great teaching tool for hands on lessons about faith.

It is great to make slime, mixing 2 chemicals together, white glue and Borax laundry soap. Add a little food coloring for fun. The glue has long chains of chemical structures called polymers, it oozes slowly. The Borax chemical is going to react with the glue polymers and chain-link them together, the long polymers are cross-linked. The chemicals look like a net (or a miniature web) if you could see the molecular structure and we make slime, which holds together, oozes more slowly.

The basis of the experiment is to mix equal parts glue and water, just a couple teaspoons of each, mix them well. Dissolve a teaspoon of borax into a couple teaspoons of water. Pour the Borax solution into the glue and stir. The crosslink reaction will set the glue into slime. Wait a bit – or keep stirring and then slime will be stretchable and you can work with it with your hands.

Spiderman must trust his web in order to swing thru life, we too must trust not our own understanding of life but Jesus and take His Hand, we live thru his life’s teachings under God’s LOVE and learn the truth that ONLY Jesus can give us eternal life. We are to give of ourselves freely into faith. Trust God’s path for our life. God does not want lukewarm faith, you are either hot or cold to Him, if you are lukewarm then God will spit you out of his mouth, like it says in the book of Revelation.

So trust Jesus to lead the Way because He is the Way. Speak about Jesus to your friends and family, because Jesus is the Truth. Trust Jesus with your life because He is Life. The Way the Truth the Life.

I urge you to be active in a faith community as well, as together we all can create a strong net to help others (including ourselves) be stabilized by faith. Be Spiderman and send a web of support to others, so they can know that LOVE and rescue by Jesus too.

Amen

#863, 16MAY

Mini Musings

<^> Don’t be a mythic person,  be yourself mythically.

<^> Don’t be an asymptomatic carrier, flash your love bug style.

<^> Don’t judge neighbors who have a driveway party, do spatial distance but enjoy the slice of pizza they offer you (and those wings!).

<^> Don’t be un-sense-able, sense smartly.

<^> Don’t worry, worship what will work out in the end.

<^> Don’t grudge, be gracious, growing, graced.

<^> Don’t observe injustice, justify your place and serve.

<^> Don’t miss the opportunity, open the openings, smile the Spirit, take the time, long for a LONGVIEW.

Love

#862, 15MAY

Witness His Next Stitch

John, the apostle, was so young when Jesus called him and brother James to “Follow Me”. Jesus loved him dearly and John knew AND grew to be a great witness and wisdom-filled teacher who lived many years. John lived a long life to tell, teach, and weave his wisdom into his accounts, seasoned to know what his readers would want to hear, the stories, the witness, To tell about the love of Jesus, a man who was both God, family, leader and friend.

John’s gospel, written last, covers many tidbits not in the other 3 gospels… the stitches into the net of insights are not for show of his personal status, but for the future readers to understand his important placement of witness – Jesus sent all the disciples out to be taught. We are the ones that weren’t there. We must reach into his wisdom and the wisdom of everyone’s past witness to find how Jesus is UNCHANGING even in new times. We want to know the words of truth, the Word Jesus thru Witness.

The youth of today are our hope, for they are the teachers of tomorrow. What will they witness of Jesus thru us? We must continue stitching the thread. Share our witness that He gave us His strength to live. Not reinventing the witness but CONTINUING the long threads of TRUTH from the Word weaved thru our lives. Will the Word weave thru us enough to make us want to tell of Him? I hope so. We have to make it so… We have to show how our faith has stitched us together.

What damage do we see in the world that we can counteract with witness? What can our threads of faith fix? Calm the frayed ends? Comfort the crashes? Can we be warm witnesses to counteract coldness? Complacency? Cowardness? Collapse? What about facing fears and frustrations by demonstrating trust and due diligence? What about changing the gloom and doom into bright light, sight and hope?

I hope that our youth can say, one day, that we were a praying generation, a sharing generation, a paying attention generation. If they could tell stories of how we choose to show our strength instead of flaunt it, and show that we did not shy away. How we exerted efforts to listen internally and broadcast HOPE over the noise of nothingness…

Do we have to have life figured out? No. Perhaps it is better if life figures us out instead… Perhaps living the life of fluidity and fulfillment of cause IS the life that Jesus shows us how to live. Best we remember that Jesus shows us simply first to BE, and to keep walking in humbleness, seeking justice, loving mercy. We can keep walking with Jesus these days and weave our path of wisdom into the net, the fabric of the future.

I want to be remembered as Holy Spirit fueled, not as running under my own power. I want to be sharpened as a needle to pierce new fabrics with a mission to share.

Be a witness today and pray placement into the next stitch of the fabric of His LOVE. When you share your hope in Him, you are helping to start His next stitch. Be woven. Be real. Be witness.  Be.

Amen ahead of time to be a believer of His next stitch.

 

#861 – 11MAY

Hold the Rail, Mom IS Right

My Mom is the best!!!

My Mom is Heaven-sent. I get to borrow her here on earth.

My Mom’s ever-spoken advice: “Hold the rail!” Even at age 50, I can still hear her say it, and thank God she still says it! Yes, there is nothing easier to do than fall down the stairs, and I have… Up and down the stairs we still go, “Hold the rail!”. There is nothing so simple a saying which is the best good idea. HOLD THE RAIL!!!

Hold the rail.

In life as well, let’s not overlook this as the best advice EVER.

Hold the rail. Yes the physical one.

Hold the rail. How about the spiritual one? Hold the prayer rail, hold the rail and draw a line against distractions and disasters, hold the rail and the rail holds you – as long as your grip is good. Watch each of your steps. Get a grip.

Hold the rail and in other words, hold onto what will steady us like none other. Hold the WHO most of all – hold the out-streched HAND of the LORD.

Hold the Lord. The Lord is holding you.  Hold the Lord against distractions and disasters, hold your grip, get a grip. Watch your steps.

My Mom knows the Lord in her own unique way. As we all do. My Mom holds the rail, even put in a second rail on the big stairs at home. Be extra careful now these long years… take advantage of the most safety you can to transverse day to day…

A Second Rail, Hmmm… an advocate to come alongside, a Holy Spirit to hold, to help… How Amazing… We HAVE a surrounding SAVE…

Hold the HOPE. The HOPE is holding you!

Why not hold the rail? The steadying presence is for your own safety.

Why not hold the Holy Hope Helping of Heaven’s Host.

Hold out your hand, He is here to hold.

HE who helps, HE IS THE LORD.

HOLD ON TIGHT!

Amen

#860, 08MAY

WHY Do I Wear a Mask?

Why do I wear a mask? and stay socially distanced? Because my faith is UNMASKED and I believe we are to do our part to inspire others, remind others –  and because I am alive.

Because my FAITH should be written all over my face.

Why do I wear a mask? Because I am blessed to know that the rules are not JUST for protection but trust that compliance is for DEMONSTRATING that I CARE.

Why do I wear a mask? and change it twice a day at least? Why do I wash my hands? Because I have to be aware of my surroundings and not take the things I have to do and get to do for granted.

Why do I wear a mask? Because I DO honestly want to go out and about, but NOT for flaunting my freedom. For now IS the time for finding our balance between work and worry, routine and risk. And while I wear a mask, I can still show that I CAN STILL SMILE.  We can still smile while wearing masks, we can still sing quietly in the grocery story while wearing one, we can still be polite and friendly,  we can still believe in the goodness of the Lord while wearing one. We can certainly show our humbleness while wearing one. We can still be His servant while wearing one. We should not judge while wearing one. We should be still.

Why do I wear a mask? Because it caught my overflowed tears just now as I watched (via a Facebook live feed) a dear friend lay BOTH her mother and father to rest in a cemetery – both 80 plus – both taken swiftly – BOTH passing away only a week apart – together in dear love 56 years married… I will re-remember today because I heard the sadness of those there at the service. I will wear a mask and know the “closer” of illness but the beginning of eternity. I will remember their closeness to each other and of each of them to the Lord, and I will wear my mask to mark the completeness of their earthly cycle.

Why do I wear a mask? Because we don’t know when, where, how we will participate in the spread of this virus(SARS2). We don’t and won’t see it coming – especially if we THINK it already came by, skipping us for now – but we just don’t know.

Why do I wear a mask? Because we know we are all to pass away someday. Wearing the mask draws me closer to the Lord knowing others are passing. Yet, we know that that is OK – that we have the Lord leading our way.

Why do I wear a mask? Because I am still a breathing, living, loving organism. Because I praise the Lord – and the Lord alone – because He has filled me with breath and life to make me His. The Lord has made me aware and allowed me to simply walk out the door today and go where I choose…  Even better, I best go where He chooses me to go – He allows me to wear the mask today because I am still on this Earth…

Why do I wear a mask? Because if I don’t set a good example, who will? If I don’t prepare for my children, who will? If I don’t show the synergy of my own knowledge of science, spirituality, and sensibility, who will?

Why do I wear a mask? Because I have lots of fun fabrics to sew and so that others will be seen smiling within these masks too – and if I am not colorful and singing and smiling, and crying and listening and learning, and being a person of faith behind my mask, who will?…  Many are all these things in their faith and therefore I also can be. I can be me in a mask. I can still be me.

Why do I wear a mask? Because I am still alive…

Why I am alive? Because the Lord said so…

Why did the Lord make me? To show my faith in Him. To be loved by Him and to love Him.

Why do I UNMASK my faith in Him? because He made me me.

I was unmasked to the Lord before I was made – He knows everything about me. And He told me, showed me He loves me. He told me that my job was to tell you that He loves you.

God loves you. Jesus saves you. Holy Spirit moves you.

Why do I wear my mask in faith? Because my FAITH should be written all over my face.

Amen

859

Mega Micro Mega-phone Micro-Crab, My Lord, You ARE in Control, 07MAY

Don’t ever think that the Lord is not in control…

Don’t ever think that you overthink the complexities of the world – but DO think of the BIG as well as simple little things that the Lord has helped control for you, in you, with you helping… DO think what the Lord can reveal to you, and ask with all your heart. If you think Micro, you may understand Mega. If you think Mega you may understand that it covers all the Micro too. God has it all…

I may have told you that we found a lost hermit crab (that we named Christmas for his colorful shell) in the camp woods about 3 years ago – saw him on a path after discussing a gut feeling for us to walk one path over another – TRUST that gut feeling…

I may have told you that Anna S. (Christmas’s Grandma) and I didn’t want to be late for the supper bell – TRUST that calling.

I may have told you that we were amazed but left the crab there, OOPS – TRUST the OOPS feeling. We went back – because others reminded us that hermit crabs are not native to PA woods in chilly October. others urged us – we went back the next day – TRUST the people giving you advice.

There he was – there he was – there he was waiting for us (well how would we think like a crab? he was just existing) – TRUST the SOMEONE was thinking about him and about us – TRUST that the Spirit gives us time to think and to pray and to act… THINK about THINKING.

The Lord wants us to think about thinking.

I LOST THE CRAB!!!!!

My mistake – I took the crab out for exercising from his small enclosure and then I forgot about him – lost my thinking like leaving the stove on – Christmas was “lost” in my house for 18 hours or so – OOPS – honest mistake – we are honestly HUMAN – KNOW WE ARE HUMAN.  Think about forgiving our humanness.

PRAYER – RESCUE – HOPE – TRUST… I prayed and the Lord revealed a hunch and an image to me. TRUST that I am NOT making this up but that prayers and revealing and hunches are NORMAL – gut reactions are there for a reason… I found him within 3 minutes of my prayer and vision – whoda thunk? not me! whoda thunk that the Lord would use my forgetfulness to teach me something, that when I ask He answers. I pray to never forget that – HE is in control!

If the Lord thru my gut feeling can reveal the whereabouts of the smallest crab, in my MICRO life – then tell me how amazing the MEGA plan is – a plan to save the world before creating it!  Tell me that your gut reaction is WOW – tell me that you can’t imagine the unimaginable because I can’t imagine it either – but imagine TRUSTING the gut feeling that Jesus was planning on saving each of us before they created the world. I can only imagine that by faith not by sight.

Imagine how our joy gets cultivated by revelations and encouragements that there are no coincidences, imagine and experience the fun about little miracles of connective-ness. If you can imagine the Lord knowing the hairs on your head, you will believe it when He makes your hair stand on end! Surprised for the little coincidences of life – which are not co-incidences!

God-incidences all around…

Imagine me simply walking up to say “Hi” to someone I don’t know but while chatting they randomly ask: “do you have a megaphone? we need a megaphone for the National Day of Prayer parade.”   Well, yes, YES random questioning person, i do have a random megaphone that is not mine but in my office, purchased by a sweet friend. Well yes, how NOT random the Lord knew to connect the big MEGA things to make the MICRO things fall together – how NOT random…

How random the conversation drifted to hermit crabs – how NOT random that this person had a story about hermit crabs too – how NOT random that the Lord is in charge.

How NOT random that making people THINK and PRAY are all in the works for the Lord’s Day. How amazing is that EVERYDAY is the Lord’s Day…  How could we forget?

I’ll take my awe of You Mega and Micro-capable Lord, I’ll NOT wrap my head around the huge-ness of You Lord, but I will wrap my heart up in Your warm embrace and LOVE. I will take my Mega-phone and Micro-Crab and totally know that neither of them are mine – never were – but I was gifted the strange duties of holding on to them for Your Purposes.  I will not even think that my life is my life – that my time is anything but Your Time – I will try to reduce my bargaining my own time, remembering that it is from You Lord, Your good graces that I even wake up everyday! and it is of Your good mercy, Lord, that I get to actually sleep at night…

I believe that You Lord need us to tell of your God-incidences, God-winks, God-sightings…

I believe that You Lord need us working Your work in the world this whole while.

I believe that You Lord need us.

I KNOW that we need You!!!

I know you have the MEGA and the MICRO, You are in control.

Amen

---

 

Jesus looked toward heaven and prayed:

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you BEFORE THE WORLD BEGAN.” John 17

858, 02MAY

We don’t always “get it”, but WE WILL

What is going on today? Often we feel that we cannot understand all that goes on or thru our lives, nor have the mental capacity to process even a fraction. GOD KNOWS ALL but He WON’T tell all – He does tell us to trust Him.

In John’s account of the Last Supper, Jesus is explaining that He is leaving – that even if the disciples don’t understand all this heavy news now, THEY WILL… and if they don’t completely understand how it all comes together,  they will, but ONLY later… “I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t hear then now. When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into the all the truth.” (v16)

Jesus didn’t need to tell His disciples everything, because He was with them, but now that He was going to be leaving thru crucifixion, He told them that they will need His Spirit to keep moving forward.  (We do too)

We also are on that same track – not always knowing why we are in a circumstance – but having been given the TRUTH, we are told to TRUST…

We are urged to have patience, perseverance as well as passion and praise – even in unknowns, for our future is secured by Jesus.  We stumble through life, and are picked up only by stumbling upon the TRUTH. We may live thru follies and frustrations, but we WILL get to a place where we WILL see it all fall into place. We won’t see it all now, nor could we. We won’t “get it” until we get to be where all is revealed – and we won’t need to look back, we will just need to be. We will just be.

Let’s hope that the Word permeates the world, so all will know that the Truth of Jesus leads the way.

Not now, but someday THIS DAY will be understood by us.

And someday, we will not even worry that we didn’t know.

Amen

857, 30APR

Found Again! Christmas the Crab!

Found Christmas the Crab… oh you know there’s a devotion here about me losing focus… and the Lord clue-ing me in.

I found the crab with the hockey sticks, behind the washer… I lost focus yesterday and left him on the living room floor, packed my lunch and went to work… home late, I saw the lid off of his home, I sadly realized I had lost focus… I was too exhausted for the exhaustive search, I went to bed knowing that I was going to have to tear the house apart.. I work up unusually early at 430 am with the realization that I better start looking. Better yet I best start LISTENING… Christmas the crab is active at these times… I took the battery out of the clock that was ticking too loud in the kitchen and just stood silent.  I probably looked like I was hunting for a hidden Easter basket. And I LISTENED.

I prayed to the Lord: “Please GIVE ME A CLUE!” and I rose my hand to acknowledge my lost unfocused self, I lifted my hand to the air to ask Jesus to pull me out of the water… I asked for help because how could I lose a crab I was so supposed to help? and honestly I prayed because I really didn’t want to tear my house apart!!!… and yes, just then, an image came that quick – I just envisioned the laundry room – I headed over. I listened for the crab but no. I simply kept thinking about the hockey sticks but those gaps seemed too small for a big crab… but there he was… THERE HE WAS!!!.. God knew… I was the recipient of His Power to forgive and focus. I was gifted a vision. I knew and know that I will forget how much help I got just then from the Lord…  I will forget that He flashed a vision to me. I will get a bit lost again and again the Lord will find me. If the Lord can find a crab for me, for sure He can find me when I am lost. Surely He can lead us back to Him.

God led me to find the crab, that I feel… that hunch and vision was real and undeniable… I could also say I KNOW that mini-miracle was from God because ALL GOOD THINGS ARE FROM GOD (Psalm 16, James 1)… So WOW, to feel that hunch is startling!!! That’s the feeling of getting help from Someone assembling my thoughts for me.

Whew… (and I didn’t even start cleaning, only listening)… Christmas lost and found again,  Easter-basket style… Whew Lord, Thank You…It was a simple bad mistake, like me forgetting the stove on, I am so very much human and get so distracted… I can be lost just as much as Christmas was lost in the sticks…

How blessed we are to know that the Lord refocuses us to His mission of seeing how much life is better when we rely on Him… Our focus is lost at times,  we are the lost sheep… we will always need to listen…

Amen

---

Psalm 16 NIV, of David. (1-11)

Keep me safe, my God,

for in you I take refuge.

 

I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;

apart from you I have no good thing.”

I say of the holy people who are in the land,

“They are the noble ones in whom is all my delight.”

Those who run after other gods will suffer more and more.

I will not pour out libations of blood to such gods

or take up their names on my lips.

 

Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup;

you make my lot secure.

The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;

surely I have a delightful inheritance.

I will praise the Lord, who counsels me;

even at night my heart instructs me.

I keep my eyes always on the Lord.

With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

 

Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices;

my body also will rest secure,

because you will not abandon me to the realm of the dead,

nor will you let your faithful one see decay.

You make known to me the path of life;

you will fill me with joy in your presence,

with eternal pleasures at your right hand.

 

AMEN

---

 

James 1 NIV (1-18)

James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes scattered among the nations:

 

Greetings.

 

Trials and Temptations

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

 

Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.

 

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

 

When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

 

Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

 

 

856, 28APR

Just Say Jesus

Remember that campaign of “Just say No”?

Well, how about “Just say Jesus”.

Jesus is NOT an excuse but a REASON.

Don’t want to let unwanted things slip into your life? Just say NO.

Got a bad vibe about something? Just say NO.

Want to choose good over bad things for your life? Just say Jesus is my justification.

Want to break out of an old habit?

Find Peace? Just say Jesus.

Just say Jesus and the REASON replaces the routine.

Want to stay away from temptations? Just say No. Want to give yourself a reason to treat yourself better, like a temple? Just say Jesus.

Just say Jesus

No more anxiety.

Just say Jesus

No more loss.

Just say Jesus

Just say YES, Jesus.

Just say Jesus

Amen

Love Still

Sing-out

Service 

Sacrificial 

Sorrys

Spoken 

Spiritually 

Slave-like

Strong 

Striving 

Skillfully 

Sadly 

Soulfully 

Soothingly 

Solemn 

Special 

Specific 

Seed-planting

Love Sowing 

Love Shows 

Savior love shared still 

So lovely

Love 

Still

854

Friendship Lines, COVID19 and Jesus’s Commandment to LOVE, 26APR

How heartbreaking the stories,  but how heartwarming the LOVE.

I had just finished reading about Jesus giving the disciples the great commandment to love one another, according  to John’s recount of the last supper.  I closed my bible and then read about the Friendship Line in California, and the pairing of college students and senior citizens, and about meal deliveries… about reaching out and loving one another… I love the LOVE.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35

Love is God and God is Love.

The love of all is held in such importance by the Lord that He gives this Command (at the time He is warning the disciples about His death) because He wants ALL to know that LOVE is the defining characteristic of being Jesus’s disciple.

I love seeing the Lord in His people. THAT’S HOW WE SEE GOD IN ACTION, THRU HIS PEOPLE SHARING LOVE.

Sacrificial love is the giving of time, resources,  hope.  Sacrificial love is not the easy way, but the Jesus Way.

Service love is the giving of time, resources, hope. Direction…. love we give is not self-serving,  should ALWAYS point to Jesus… Serving love is the Jesus Way.

Share love today,  the Jesus Way.

Amen

‐——–

In another move to expand resources for seniors, Newsom [Governor of CA] announced increased staffing for the Friendship Line, a telephone “warmline” that both answers phone calls and makes check-in calls to seniors. Students from California State University, Sacramento, and United Airlines — whose call center staff have been freed up by the pandemic-induced drop in air travel — are among those who will help staff the helpline.

https://www.kqed.org/coronavirusliveupdates/news/11814221/gov-newsom-supplements-senior-home-staffing-adds-new-hotline

853

Who is Your Plus One? 25APR

It’s Christmas in April !!! 4/25 – do we remember that Christmas day when the world got a plus one of a little baby? Jesus came in most vulnerable human form. He stepped off the throne to venture down to us.

When we are re-emerging after/during this Covid19 situation, we will have to figure out venturing back into society and whom will we see or hug first. Our parents? Our children? Our Amazon delivery driver? Our choice… Whom would we risk ourselves for in order to share our love… who is our “plus one?… And whom will risk their health for being with us?

Hmmm…. Christmas in April, is like everyday,  I know who would venture and risk themselves for us…

Christ.

Jesus Christ was called to take it upon Himself to seek each of us as His one. His “plus one” is each one… He sacrificed His skin for our sins. He’s the One and only One to bring us to God.

Plus One… Jesus wants us.

I want to feel the Lord’s love over all human love, I know that His comfort is like no other. I want everyone to know Him.  He wants everyone to know His voice and His Love and His comfort… He lived to be known.

Cast your anxiety away to accept the hug of His Hope.

Live. LOVE. Listen. Learn. Live.

Amen

852

WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER, 24APR

This Covid19 situation is unprecedented for our generation,  but not at all for the Lord. Oh the pandemics  that He has seen… The HOPE He has cultivated…

I could imagine the book of Job with the Lord modifying the Devil’s schemes… I can imagine the Lord morphing and helping us with this too. The ability to persevere is 100% from the Lord. We can show HOPE to shine light on the one who gives us hope. I believe we are also to learn that we really are all in this life together. Time to share, help, teach, sow.

You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. James 5

Scripture comes to mind that despite our situation,  we are to grow. Despite what we see in the world,  we are to cultivate Godliness… Jesus taught in parable (Matthew 13): “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them.  Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

It is a PATIENT Lord that we do have, One who could act swiftly but He may wait out the spiritual growth of the world so that as many as possible are found. The opportunities we have to learn about our path to Heaven are only as much as we are taught about Jesus. Therefore we too need to teach. Our own seeds need good soil in our existence and growth. So does everyone’s. As the parable of the sower reminds us – many people are not always strong in their faith. God WANTS good soil soul growth. God wants to harvest good wheat and a whole crop. God’s got to pick thru the weeds first, wheat from the weeds.

Can we remember to be in this world, this situation, for His glory and other’s growth? Can we support the weak, help them live and grow? Can we find strength in our weakness to demonstrate that we won’t just rollover, shrivel up and give up? Will we remember that we also are being encouraged to grow thru adversity.

There are plants that get battered by the wind and grow stocky and strong. There are trees that adhered to mountain cliffs and still manage to grow. There are people who don’t know the cushy life, but persevere and build deep faith.

The Lord has told us that we are all in this together.  Do we comprehend that and do we understand how we can spend our energies in building up each other? For when we work for the Lord, we want to reach the people who have ears waiting and wanting to open.

WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER. 

And are we to grow thru our experiences now? Today? Yes. Are we to take time to improve ourselves thru these experiences? Yes. Have we been gifted time to explore what the Lord needs us to do? And are we to help the whole Kingdom of God’s people? YES

Having Hope will remind others of the one who gives hope.

What will we do in our precious moments today? Shrivel or grow?

I hope we will all GROW.

Amen

 

---

“God has put together all the parts of the body. And he has given more honor to the parts that didn’t have any. In that way, the parts of the body will not take sides. All of them will take care of one another. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If one part is honored, every part shares in its joy.

You are the body of Christ. Each one of you is a part of it. (1Corinthians 12)

Amen Amen

——

Patience in Suffering

Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!

Brothers and sisters, as an example of patience in the face of suffering, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. James 5

Amen

——-

From the Book of Job:  “If only you would prepare your heart and lift up your hands to him in prayer!  Get rid of your sins, and leave all iniquity behind you. Then your face will brighten with innocence. You will be strong and free of fear.  You will forget your misery; it will be like water flowing away. Your life will be brighter than the noonday. Even darkness will be as bright as morning. Having hope will give you courage. You will be protected and will rest in safety.  You will lie down unafraid, and many will look to you for help. (Job 11)

Amen

——

1 Corinthians 12: (NIRV)

One Body but Many Parts

There is one body, but it has many parts. But all its many parts make up one body. It is the same with Christ. We were all baptized by one Holy Spirit. And so we are formed into one body. It didn’t matter whether we were Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free people. We were all given the same Spirit to drink. So the body is not made up of just one part. It has many parts. Suppose the foot says, “I am not a hand. So I don’t belong to the body.” By saying this, it cannot stop being part of the body.  And suppose the ear says, “I am not an eye. So I don’t belong to the body.” By saying this, it cannot stop being part of the body.  If the whole body were an eye, how could it hear? If the whole body were an ear, how could it smell? God has placed each part in the body just as he wanted it to be. If all the parts were the same, how could there be a body? As it is, there are many parts. But there is only one body. The eye can’t say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” In fact, it is just the opposite. The parts of the body that seem to be weaker are the ones we can’t do without. The parts that we think are less important we treat with special honor. The private parts aren’t shown. But they are treated with special care. The parts that can be shown don’t need special care. But God has put together all the parts of the body. And he has given more honor to the parts that didn’t have any. In that way, the parts of the body will not take sides. All of them will take care of one another. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If one part is honored, every part shares in its joy.

You are the body of Christ. Each one of you is a part of it.

Amen 

—–

“Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;  yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing.  But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” Matthew 13

Thanks Lord… AMEN

#851, 18APR

Spread JOY GERMS

What can you do in your walk with Jesus???

I believe that I am supposed to encourage, sometimes be the object lesson of God’s experiment (of me)… Others are gifted to warn, to teach, to prophesize, you name it.  I hope to keep a healthy fear of God, a solid respectful fear, we all should accept His correction…

But what really is the path the Lord needs us to walk? What role has Jesus been teaching you to take on? What do you want to tell others God means not just “to you” but “thru you” ???

I’m pretty sure that I am supposed to share JOY GERMS… if you’ve got them, spread them….

I’m pretty sure that I am blessed by God to tell of His HOPE… I am excited to learn in order to teach about Him!!! I CAN’T THINK OF A BETTER JOB!!!! So why wouldn’t I look for the JOY IN THE JOB? My job. His job. Why wouldn’t anyone look for the path that the Lord picked for them?

Yes, some choose to obey, some get forced to accept Jesus thru tough times,  so why not accept Jesus thru our own walks. Knowing that Jesus chose me in the Way that He did brings me to tears. “WHY ME LORD?” – well, He says: “WHY NOT YOU!”

Jesus said to His disciples “I know those I have chosen” ,,, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”  John 13

Jesus said this for all, pulling all closer to Himself, while pointing out the one (Judas) He foretold as His betrayer. Jesus told them all so they (and we) would understand in retrospect that He had full knowledge of the walk to death and life that was being required of Him – that they and we would know He was God, the Son of God, the fulfillment of the prophesies. He wants us to know Him as REAL. As Lord.  As Savior. AS FRIEND.

We need to remember to SHINE the Light by sharing the Lord in us, thru us, to walk as the living beings of Christ intent.

He who receives whomever I send receives Me;

and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.

If God picks YOU to share Him, share Him!!!

If God picks you to sing His praises, SING!!!

If you even have a chance to share a SMILE,  share a SMILE.  If you do have to rebuke someone, then rebuke for the good of others. If you have to correct someone,  do so with LOVE,  for building up the strength of the Spirit. Be receivable and approachable. Build up the body of the church,  which is EVERYONE.

Today – Especially today, LISTEN to the road map of the Spirit… keep learning and sharing your gifts.

Be His walk. It’s His High-Way.

Amen

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“Anyone who receives you receives me, and anyone who receives me receives the Father who sent me.  If you receive a prophet as one who speaks for God, you will be given the same reward as a prophet. And if you receive righteous people because of their righteousness, you will be given a reward like theirs. And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded.” Matthew 10

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So if you speak in a way no one can understand, what’s the point of opening your mouth? There are many languages in the world and they all mean something to someone. But if I don’t understand the language, it’s not going to do me much good. It’s no different with you. Since you’re so eager to participate in what God is doing, why don’t you concentrate on doing what helps everyone in the church? 1st Corinthians 14 (MSG)

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“There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all: for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.” 1^st Corinthians 12

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My Father is ALWAYS Right, 16APR

Well, my Father,  as in my Dad, is always full of wisdom and probably always right, even though I would have sometimes disagreed growing up…

My Father, as in Our Father in Heaven,  He is for sure always right.

Convergent advice both my Dad and Our Father have? Treat everyone with respect,  be helpful to all.

My Dad says treat everyone well on your way up,  because you never know when you will meet them on the way down. He says treat the custodian and the CEO the same. And he values a person who can sit down and have a cup of coffee with you,  in other words someone who doesn’t make themselves higher than they need to be… down to earth…

That advice about custodians and CEO’s??? SO FITTING for today I spoke with both! Guess whom I gave advice to, and whom gave me advice? Yup, as predicted by my Dad’s advice,  the custodian is whom gave me the best advice today,  filled with wisdom at age 85, he would be the one all of us should listen to.

The advice? Do a job well,  take care of the people whom you are employed to take care of, and never burn any bridges because you never know when circumstances change… the custodian came to my office and sat down giving me his wisdom… that’s what I will remember…

My conversation with the head boss was also fruitful as he was the one who wanted MY advice… and helping the managers set their manager’s tone is time well spent.

How does the Lord fit into all this? Listening,  learning,  sharing,  helping… we must ask why we are put into the positions we are put in. We are ACCOUNTABLE to Him to make the most of every moment. The Big Boss, Our Father, sets the tone.  He surely makes the weather and He wants us in ALIGNMENT with Him.

Our Lord Jesus serves. We need to SERVE like He does, not simply make small talk or give lip service, but LISTEN and meet the people where they are.  To reset our tone, we must give up our burdens, we need to shine the LIGHT and be the LIGHT while the LIGHT is still with us and in us.

We are to steady ourselves too, not be tossed by the wind and waves… and right ourselves because we do live in His Grace. And we have to keep walking…

My Dad would have been happy I had the opportunity to speak to the boss and tell him a piece of my mind, and ALSO listen to the wisdom of the custodian who shared his mindfulness with me.  My Dad is right, treat everyone well.

Our Heavenly Father, as shared thru His “Down to Earth” Son, is right too, saying: Love one another… Speak to each other in encouragement… Be real.

It is good to be walking and working in the Light FOR the Light…

Amen!

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God Says: “Take a Hint”, 16APR

I write thinking how we are just travelling through this world, yet our home is in heaven,  but we must make the most of each step here and now… there are good hints of how to live well and move on…

For example, I’ve been given hints, not quite like Paul who couldn’t go to Asia in the book of Acts, but hints that sometimes my act is NOT together. A small example: for some reason I am not in step yet for mask making! I’ve tried many times to find the time to sew masks, I keep hitting my own road blocks, maybe God says “take a hint” and do something else right now – there will be time for your agenda later. And yes, God not only hints but hammers home that my busy work work and my home work is important. God also hints that rest now is purposeful restful to gear up later…. So, my best mask elastic ran out, the extra wasn’t right, then my machine broke,  then I fixed it but I needed to test sizes, then my sizes were good but my new old elastic started coming loose. I thought I bought new elastic arriving this weekend but it is nowhere in my orders, boo. I never followed thru with the order… my mis-step of course, allowing God to say AGAIN “TAKE A HINT”… “WORK ON SOMETHING ELSE”…

But I did get like 40 masks made and given to neighbors and random people like the lady at the essential BUSY Rita’s water ice stand, I mean why not? She brought the hope of gelato normalcy to my kids, and I shared HOPE too… she said her husband  needed them to work construction, I was happy to help… when you keep your ears open for hearing hints, you can construct and share HOPE.

… and meanwhile, while my machine was broken, I gave away lots of HOPE, including 20 year old good fabric that I probably would have never gotten to use (I say that NOT to boast in American dream example of excessive living BUT because we all need to purge, giving things away before they rot)… I was able to absorb a lot of timeless HOPE and great fuzzy feelings giving away excess stockpiles… we certainly can share and feel helpful because our ability to bless mirrors when God says “don’t store up treasures here on earth”. So yes, clear your piles, take a hint, work on something else !!!

Not everyone has the same talents or missions from the Lord. Not all of our time needs to be filled either,  sometimes our time is simply for being still, being here, being present, being us.  My friend says: “why are you rushing to get everything done at once?  You can have everything in life, just not all at the same time.”

Sometimes we can end up being bewildered, so we best take stock, give half away,  and make room for new blessings… take a hint, God always wants NEW blessings for us.

Ultimately we can’t take anything with us… not our blessings of this life.

What we want to know and feel is the biggest hint of all: Grace – the gift of FOREVER FORGIVENESS that ONLY the Lord can bestow. The road map of the Kingdom is marked to lead us Home.

When we simply ask to Be His, we find out we already belonged to Him already, before we even believed.

And that’s all we really need to be, is really His.

So

Sew

Sow

Be blessed…

Be still…

Be real…

Be His!

Amen

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On Easter, You Count, 12APR

The moon reminded me this morning that there is a tremendous amount of math used to calculate the Easter date. Full moons, spring equinoxes and manmade picks, Easter moves, it’s been a very movable date always. Appropriate as Easter moves us to rise. It’s not actually a date anyway,  Easter is a truth.

The math that counts, on Easter and every day, is always one. ONE man laid down His Life to rise up for ALL, and especially for One – you.

YOU COUNT.

You count on Easter,  you count every day.

To our Lord,  no one counts to Him more than the ONE sheep – YOU. Jesus calls to us, chases after us, loves us and saves us.

You are the One He Loves.

No one is NOT counted.

Jesus died for one… for ALL…

Jesus rose for ALL…

Jesus rose for YOU…

“These are written that you may believe  that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.” John 20

Jesus IS the TRUE Savior we can count on.

Believe in the ONE. He Believes in You.

Amen

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Maybe My Faith Needed Oiling Too! 11APR

My sewing machine got stuck, a small but big issue because I was the one planning out my day, I even took half that Friday off to sew masks!!! Well, NO!!!  Tell God your plans and watch Him laugh!   It is a workhorse machine, it hardly ever fails,  but wow it was loaded with crud, and not oiled in a while,  and it got jammed…

But I write this observation NOT for an amazing machine,  but for observing an AMAZING GOD.

After 2 hours working on unsticking the machine that is still stuck, I observed that apparently God had other plans for me that day… Yup… instead of sewing, I spent the rest of Good Friday with my daughter and son, time best spent… delivered couple things to folks (drop and run), made plans to give fabric away to another mask making group, got takeout food, and slept well, knowing God was in control.

And after another hour oiling it today and removing crud, it now works,  but not before I organized and cleaned up my stuff, and did lots of other house stuff… I think God repurposed my time on purpose, YES… I know  He did, so I un-be-grudgidly repurposed my own time and stuff too.

More importantly, now I have a GREASED AND OILED FAITH too… See my prayers worked out for the machine,  but that’s NOT what really mattered today.  What REALLY mattered were my groans of prayers this morning, see my son awoke to say he was extra tired. And I heard one cough and I took his temp. 99. Sure you can say 99 is normal-ish, and no other coughing occurred,  but when he went back upstairs, I went on my KNEES in prayer… There is no better way recapturing your strength than to first fall on your knees to bow and submit to God when you are overcome with fear. I wasn’t overcome or overwhelmed,  but I knew I needed the Lord nothing else…. We can oil our oil knees to bow in submission. We have to oil our fading faith when we worry, we can know that our prayers are heard.

I got back up from my knees, grabbed cleaners and got busy, returned to being half Martha, but NEVER stopped listening like Mary. I was praying and submitting all my plans to the Lord at that moment. . . Jesus also AGREES THAT HE IS THE BEST PLANNER…

My son is fine! My freakout, but he’s fine… of course I took measured cautions and measured fear in portions with my faith, so I prayed HARD!!!  His temp was not high, I KNOW 99 IS FINE,  he didn’t feel warm either, said he usually is tired from sleeping too long, and yeah that mop of hair in the front surely raises him a degree on that forehead thermometer, LOL… He’s FINE, within half an hour said he felt much more awake… I also know that he is the least at risk being young… but on your knees,  you simply pray in wordless groans… Well, God is good and I am STILL PRAYING,  but this time it’s for normal stuff, which I have plenty of prayers for… Whew!!!

God knows how much I thank Him for my good kids. I know God answers prayers. I know.

Since all things good come from God, that means God listens really good!!!! I could have shared my “freak-out” with Facebook, but instead shared my “faith-out” with God,  He can oil your plans and keep you moving.

My faith got oiled today.  My squeaky prayers answered.

God is good…  Thanks God.  Tomorrow we celebrate Easter, I know that every day is YOUR DAY…

THE DAY YOUR SON ALLOWED US TO BE UNSTUCK FROM OUR SIN…

We can now come back to You, JESUS ANSWERED YOUR PRAYERS TOO… THANK YOU JESUS…

Amen

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Spirit NON-Distancing, 11APR

Jesus sent direct messages to His Father through His internal connection of prayer as well as speaking out loud. We can too. Even in groaning, our prayers are understood.

When Jesus died on Good Friday – we call it GOOD because the veil in the temple was miraculously torn at the exact moment of His death – the symbolism is SO REAL – our path to God is opened,  we just have to push away the curtain and enter in…. Jesus came crossing onto Earth and then crossing back to Heaven, we are DIRECTLY connected to God – there is NO barrier.

Jesus also asked God the Father for the Holy Spirit to come to us,  as His advocate.  Now we have this immediate connection of being hard-wired internally for remote Holy access… God can use us, move us, block us, remote us in. He is our Lord. He is in us and us in Him.

Social Physical Distancing is the norm right now,  Spirit Distancing is NOT. Our bread of life, Jesus, is like spreading His sandwich bread and filling it to make Holy Spirit Double Decker Sandwiches… If Jesus is the Bread of Life and Jesus  is in each of us thru His Spirit, and we in Him, then we are OK moving our slices of bread a little further apart and letting the space instead be filled with Holy Spirit meat and cheese, veggies and sauces, “Oh God is so good”!

Each of us need to choose to FILL our gaps with Holy Growth and remember HOW we are connected even if we are far away… fill the space with Spirit not static…

Spirit NON-Distancing is the best thing since sliced bread.

AMEN

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Peacefully Lamenting, 09APR

I PRAY PEACE in the unknowns, focusing on the KNOWNS. Jesus knows.

Holy Thursday is a reflective time to understand peaceful lamentation, a sadness and sorrow that is allowed and understood by Jesus.  We say to not worry, to give up our burdens to Jesus, but we humans are human and ache thru lamentations of anger, unease, tears,  remorse, deep pain. Jesus did too.

JESUS KNOWS these current uneasy times. He knew them throughout our many troubled times.  He knows families are separated and have unknowns of when and if ever seeing each other again. JESUS KNOWS. God stepped off the throne to bring His children home. Jesus knows long time:  Jesus said REMEMBER ME, “I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” Matthew 26:29

Jesus and we can understand the remorse and frustration and woe. Jesus knew WOE.

The disciples didn’t understand that one of their own could even think of betraying Jesus. They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, “Surely you don’t mean me?”  “It is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me. The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.” Mark 19

Jesus knew of frustration in knowing how others would fail Him. Jesus prays for all to be strong facing horrific times. And use our strength to help others.

“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat.  But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, STRENGTHEN YOUR BROTHERS.” Luke 22:31

Jesus knew of Humble Service. We are to learn humility and yet the disciples were STILL arguing about who was greatest, even at the Last Supper.  They didn’t know until they knew.  We also STILL have tough times accepting humility. Jesus said: “the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.” Luke 22:26

Jesus knows Forgiveness. We must show forgiveness for others in order to be forgiven ourselves.  What we struggle with can be handled by Jesus who knows our humanness and knows our failings. He knows why He came to serve. In washing Peter’s feet, truly He was teaching that He came to wash away ALL our sins in order to enter the Kingdom. Jesus WANTS US WITH HIM. Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” John 13:26

JESUS KNOWS THAT IT IS HARD TO HOPE WHEN WE ARE HURTING. JESUS WILL HOLD US.

And Jesus knows LOVE. He knew taking care of and cherishing His own those Last Earthly days.   It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, HE LOVED THEM TO THE END. John 13:1

Easter week shows Jesus lovingly leaving, on purpose, but not leaving us alone in our own lamentation,  JESUS IS ALWAYS WITH US THRU THE SPIRIT: “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” John 14:15

Jesus reminds us of FUTURE GLORY.  Nothing we suffer now compares to FUTURE GLORY.  We are to remember everything He gives to us: “PEACE I leave with you; MY PEACE I GIVE YOU. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.  “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.” John 14:27

We know Jesus brings us peace, we are allowed to have lamentations but with our internal spirit connection we are encouraged to have HOPE. 

Jesus will rise us to Him. HOLD TIGHT.

We must believe in JESUS LOVE.

Amen

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Passover Pollution, Blue Skies Peace and Hope are Here, 08APR

Why do BLUE SKIES remind me of JESUS SAVING US? Because we are being showered with Grace, Hope, Life, Peace, and Love. Jesus was lifted up for death and for eternal life. He made a Way where there was no way, for Moses and opening the sea and for us thru JESUS opening the Way to God FOREVER.

Romans 5 reminds: For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! 

The blue skies, bluest this generation has ever seen are now showing up over India and China. And L.A. too. The pollution is lifting away as the activity grinds to a halt. Not a joy in how we are huddling in place due to this pandemic,  but an observation of God’s blue skies un-clouded by our pollution.  Our souls clouded by sins can be un-clouded too. How many could be saved if they looked for the Son-Shine save of Jesus.

Millions – worth repeating MILLIONS – of deaths are contributed to air pollution each year. How many future lives could  be save-able thru the life-sustaining pure air? Sadly damage is done for many living there already, but imagine how much clean air could help. HOPE

These blue skies are temporary as China returns to “normal”, India will as well, sending the pollution levels increasing again. It’s a balance of economic growth and clean atmosphere, the economy will win out for now… this is the same in our US metropolitan areas,  California, L.A. specifically, has clearer skies for now… this is a temporary reprieve.

But Jesus is NOT a temporary fix, is He? Jesus gives us a clear path forever – not temporary blue skies but FOREVER LOVE.  God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

It’s also Passover celebration time. We can remember proper fear of the Lord’s power as the darkness of death passed over and skipped the houses of the faithful slaves who marked their doors, allowing escape from the last and most horrifying plague at the time of Moses which Passed – over.

Exodus 12:11-14 “It is the Lord’s Passover.  For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt. “This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.

SO, as EASTER comes closer to us, how much intensely can we feel how LOVE flows from Jesus, passes over us but also thru us as He is in us and we in Him. Our blue skies are sometimes filled with rain, cleansing life-giving rain, so that the fields and flowers can produce abundance. The Lord also showers us with LOVE, so we can produce abundance too!!! Surely when we are aware of His Reign, then we respect rumblings of thunder announcements of His authority…  After our attention is caught, His Son-Shine brings forth His love. If we were saved while we were still sinners,  think of the bluest of skies that exist for us now that Jesus has arose.

Easter is not simply a date in the calendar that moves, Easter is the movement of our lives to acknowledge we are SAVED. We must accept the cleansing Spirit. We must look to Him.

Share your blue skies with someone today,  tell of Jesus saving, recount the Son-Shine,  peace and hope.

LIVE

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Romans 5 (NIV) Peace and Hope

Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly.  Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die.  But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!  For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!  Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

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Help Them Live, 06APR

Nothing more endearing these day than hearing throughout the world of people wishing each other: “Stay Safe”… When the times are sad and yet the JOY of living is shared,  we are now seeing the goodness of people ring out over and over. And we do see more people helping people – especially locally – people want to share HOPE,  not be overloaded by desperation.  I believe that God expresses His LOVE thru us in this way, not wanting anyone to perish, but to experience the desire to share some compassion.

We often can help others to live a little easier, as others help us too…. We are also called to live a little more Easter-ier too. Easter-ery by giving life over death advice. God’s great compassion became a gift in which we all can share in, especially remembered at Easter-time, JESUS.

JESUS.  Easter IS all about not perishing. If we can share knowledge of Jesus who opened up the Way to Heaven by being the Way, we will help others live.

I believe that we all have the instinct to help, if it is cultivated.  That comes from seeds of God’s love pre-planted. We may say it’s helping and welcoming the stranger – but God knows each soul. We are placed into the situations where God hopes we share attributes of Him.

I was chatting with a local very friendly homeless man, Mike, outside the store he resting in front of. He chooses street life freedom and he never asks for anything,  and he is SHOWERED with gifts. Mike always asks me about my singing,  I am not a stranger to him, nor him to me, from talks over the last couple years. At this moment, a mom walked up with a young man who gave him brown paper bags of prepared food. The boy was timid, but the mom urged him forward,  and she did the talking.  Mike was welcoming and thankful to the young man (he always is). In that brief interaction I saw God’s opportunity and love cultivated: teaching the young man, someone helping Mike, and someone approaching him more than simply as a stranger, because clearly she pre-planned those bag meals for specifically him.  AND I saw gratitude. Ah, the innate love of God being cultivated.

Similarly,  on a bigger scale, I heard of people showing goodness and compassion in seeming chaos 50 years ago, from a documentary streaming on Netflix about Woodstock’s 4-day peace love and rock-n-roll festival in 1969, same year as my birth.  People feeding people was a segment  that drew me in, a local woman interviewed spoke of the scriptures “welcome the stranger” –  a man interviewed mentioned he had a 19 year old as well and knew they all needed to eat because the food ran out and he gave thousands of eggs. One quote from a news reel read: “The people of Sullivan County, hearing reports of food shortages, gathered thousands of food donations to be airlifted to the site, including about 10,000 sandwiches, water, fruit and canned goods.”

Yes, in the documentary they showed locals bringing food to the school to be airlifted in. They showed volunteers passing out cups of granola and of course water to the crowds… there were volunteer medical teams too… 500,000 people in an instant city, volunteers galore…

So we probably can’t feed the whole world only in brown bags,  but we can help in small and big ways, we can help people live better by sharing our gifts, our tools. And God does give us tools….

Then, how can we help people live NOT for food but FOREVER? By shining Jesus and teaching like He did. By sharing the knowledge of God as the source of all good, of all sharing,  of all love. By telling others the meaning behind the sharing, and hope they dig deeper… It is a secret of life that MUST be shared. We are all in this together…

While looking up the scriptures on welcoming strangers,  a friend who works in the grocery store texted how much of an honor it was for her to serve the Lord in these times. She is being cheerful at her store stocking shelves. When many stay in their homes like a fortress, she puts her own troubles aside and ventures out (with protection of the full armor of God) to go serve – and remembers to share her JOY,  service to Jesus, to Others, before Yourself.  JOY teaches… JOY inspires…

Jesus is our Easter message of how to HELP THE WORLD LIVE. Take JOY in the opportunity to share Jesus today…

Amen

 

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Matthew 25:35 ESV /

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,

Hebrews 13:2 ESV /

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Leviticus 19:33-34 ESV /

“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

Romans 15:7 ESV /

Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

Romans 12:13 ESV /

Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

Leviticus 19:34 ESV /

You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.

1 Peter 4:9 ESV /

Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.

Matthew 25:40 ESV /

And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Exodus 23:9 ESV /

“You shall not oppress a sojourner. You know the heart of a sojourner, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Leviticus 24:22 ESV /

You shall have the same rule for the sojourner and for the native, for I am the Lord your God.”

Deuteronomy 10:19 ESV /

Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

Exodus 22:21 ESV /

“You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

3 John 1:5 ESV /

Beloved, it is a faithful thing you do in all your efforts for these brothers, strangers as they are…

Hebrews 13:1-2 ESV /

Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

Deuteronomy 10:18-19 ESV /

He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing. Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.

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Hotspots of LIGHT, 06APR

Jesus is walking into Holy Week,  SO ARE WE. We first need to dust off our Easter road map. By following Jesus, He leads us where we are going, but we MUST put in our own legwork. We best not let our faith fail or waiver.

Tomorrow is NEVER promised on Earth. Many this week will pass away, due to the COVID19 situation and also normal deaths – many always do each day. Death is not new, the darkness is in our loss, and every day there is an opportunity to live as if it WAS our last day, to tell all the people whom we love how much they mean to us, to pull our heartstrings together to sing of the JOYS of life, and to step up our preparedness for the worst too. We know that we can NOT live forever here, so we best to make the mark of LOVE in our earthly pages that point to our HOPE in everlasting life.

I imagine the darkness of earthly death is NOTHING compared to the HOTSPOT of Heavenly LIGHT for us on the other side.

We have the Easter story within us right now, the Word of Words buried within us but ready to rise. In order to hear, we must un-bury the Truth in the Word. We must sprout the seeds. Jesus is the Word ready to be heard. Like seeds in spring, He was buried to rise.

Mary, Lazarus’s sister, anointed Jesus before He was buried with her family’s heirloom of oil. Her Spirit KNEW. Jesus said she will be remembered for sharing her love while He was still alive.  Her spirit created from love brought forth love as well as listening and knowledge – and these were in her before she even witnessed how He would die or rise. Our Spirits ALSO are planted with the desire to be Risen before we are even born.  We need to walk thru life, death,  life. Our Spirit knows the Way, thru Jesus, by Living the Word in our own days of LIGHT.

Let us step into the LIGHT today.  It’s our Only Way to get to Easter. There are dark days ahead, but the night comes before the dawn. Let us step into LIFE today and SHARE HIS LIGHT.

Amen

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John in chapter 12 recounted the 6 days before the Passover: Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, “Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. “It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

 

 

 

 

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Jesus IS in His Element, 05APR

How fitting – that on the video feed for last Sunday’s Eucharist preparation that my friend Terry shared with me on Facebook Watch Party, that you can see the reflection of the phone, beaming the spirited transmission. You can see the phone in the Cup’s Shine – and the Lord wants to SHINE – by us remembering Him – in the consecration of the Elements. We are to reflect on Him, His sacrifice, His life, His hope – reflect in our hearts as the phone reflects in the cup, resting at the feet of the cross and listening just like us. Jesus IS in His Element gathering all to Himself.

As we socially distance we are not alone, Jesus comes closer to us and thru His Spirit, His people speak so many shared prayers.

Jesus IS in His Element today – reaching out and meeting us all where we are.

Amen.

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Palm Sunday – yes Hand Palms!!! 04APR

Oh I have tears at this Word play!!!

It dawned on me that waving PALMS from the safety of one’s car – in a parade of cheer – would be so uplifting to those safely home and standing behind their windows!!! Imagine a local parade of passionate love outpouring on those waves!

So in these interesting times and ALWAYS, it’s not simply the palm fronds,  but the wave of the PALMS of your hands to share LOVE of God in hello’s and goodbye’s and in excitement – waving the WAVES OF GOD’S LOVE!!! Imagine a parade of waving the Spirit of 99 to the one – as Jesus leads the parade to each child He needs to comfort!

The deaf wave hands instead of clap for applause, just try it, it’s EXHILARATING to praise to share the JOY of the Spirit, the Joy of the Lord!!!!

Wave your PALM as a Hello Lord in praise! Both arms up in JESUS-JOY!!!  To every child of God, let your gifted God-love flow!!!

Amen!!!

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Prophecy and Plotting for Resurrection Day, 03APR

Well, whoda thunk the Spirit was plotting too !?!?!?! We know the authorities we plotting for Jesus’s death,  but how often do we appreciate the coordination of complex prophecies that were documented throughout the bible – setting up the scenes for resurrection! The Spirit stole the scene of death of one into LIFE FOR ALL.

We often think of the awfulness of Jesus dying, but His mission of securing eternal life was a calling for Jesus, He knew His planned days in Jerusalem, He continued… He knew His Own Word foretold His Own Walk. He knew God’s Plan for total reunification of His Flock. He knew He had a choice and He chose for ALL.

Our Spirit specifically lets us in on knowledge of this mission as well – at the time we need to open our ears – this is how we are also included in the fulfillment of the miracle of Easter. The best of all good happened from the worst of the bad. The Event of Jesus Rising from the dead was to (is to) enable the re-uniting of all of us as children ONCE AGAIN in Harmony with our Father. A process that we are still called to be sharing with each of His children by shining His Light on our lives. Teach it and Preach it – but most of all Live it as FREE and no longer enslaved souls.

Look at what happened in Jerusalem, the High Priest Caiaphas had a prophesy recorded in the Gospel of John,  chapter 11, which clearly moved this event along:  Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.” He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. 

So from that day on they plotted to take his life. Therefore Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.

We know that Jesus knew,  but often we think of rash judgements of the accusers, yet this shows Spirit intervention and wisdom poured into a person, Caiaphas, for a purpose. People then like now were put in place for not a performance but for the showing of the glorification of God.

The bitter truth that Jesus gave about Judas, the sad story pre-told about Peter’s denials – Jesus knew all.  Jesus also knew the strength of the women who kept their duties to anoint His body after death, and He knew the cascade reaction to tell the world  of His Resurrection… So what does Jesus know of us? Of our strengths? The Spirit moves in step, on plan, YES, then and now, may use even the worst blinded evil to change the consequences into good….

Can we keep doing that too? Change our circumstances for good? Use our weakness to be filled with His strength?

God did not plan the suffering but gave Jesus the reason for tolerating it. US TOO. Jesus  understood the hard and human road to the cross and victory over death. It does catch our attention as cruel, but how much MORE we should  pay attention to His eventual resurrection for glory. So will we contemplate our own personal sufferings and look for good?

Will we likewise be used as an example here and now for how we tolerate thorns in our sides like Paul, our pains in our plans, and how we humble ourselves for a mission to show His Strength thru us. Will we keep walking to Jerusalem as well and not stop walking until we meet up with other children to share the Good News?

The story of Easter is known but it is ALSO THE FAITH,  OUR FAITH, which now must be shared and understood by others to help continue to see the prophecy of eternal life becoming real for others.

Jesus would die for ALL the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. You are one child, called into His fold under one God. You are the most important person in God’s eyes, because YOU ARE HIS CHILD.  GOD LOVES YOU!!!!

Jesus followed thru because God Loves YOU!

Amen!!!

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What If? 30MAR

What if the rain of seemingly endless days is to wash away virus?

What if the rain is to wash-out the plans that you had for going outside anyway, to make you more content at home?

What if the spring flowers bloomed early this year, to give us good distraction of looking at beauty, not bleak?

What if the pollen levels are being allowed to creep up and phlegm-you-up to keep virus particles at bay?

What if the Lord ALREADY knows the back story of this event and is watching how we handle everything.

What if we really are supposed to first figure out that we don’t have all this figured out?

What if we are SUPPOSED to learn lots of things for next time?

What if we are SUPPOSED to learn to cooperate and even cut across local, state and federal red tape?

What if LOVE is stronger than fear.

What if we are SUPPOSED to pay attention to hundreds of thousands migrating on foot in India because they have no work?

What if the poor always have had a tough time, but we only are noticing now?

What if?

What if we are SUPPOSED to help in places where there already was no clean water to wash hands, or medical attention, just like we were SUPPOSED to be helping them for years?

What if we learn that we have not yet learned where to put our energies?

What if summer-like thunderstorms in March, and altered climate wacky weather means we have wavered on what we should have been doing to help the planet, not hurt it…

What if seeing mountains for the first time in years due to low pollution is to indicate we are missing seeing beauty in what we have been given…

What if?

What if we are being made to understand to fear the Lord? Who could wipe out any plague but will let it linger JUST ENOUGH to teach His children lessons?

What if we were to be made to understand the Lord is ALL-POWERFUL?

What if we were to be made to understand the Lord LOVES US?

What if this COULD be much worse than it is?

What if the virus did not discriminate as much as it does?

What if the virus did not have such specific symptoms to know to stay away from others?

What if the non-living virus which has a name “corona” meaning “crown” reminds us that it is up against the LIVING CROWN?

What if thru our actions, we are the reason the outbreaks were minimized compared to what it could have been… or what it could still do?

What if we will never know?

What if we at least know that we were OK thru this?

What if we learn that we were held?

What if we learn that we were loved?

What if we remember His love, and all else in our lives will fall into place…

What if we put HOPE in His Unfailing Love?

What if we are the ones He has HOPE in to share this LOVE and this HOPE?

What if we are the ones who are called to call to others and remind them to count blessings?

What if?

 

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Job 36-37

Elihu teaches Job:

“How great is God—beyond our understanding! The number of his years is past finding out. “He draws up the drops of water, which distill as rain to the streams; the clouds pour down their moisture and abundant showers fall on mankind.

Who can understand how he spreads out the clouds, how he thunders from his pavilion? See how he scatters his lightning about him, bathing the depths of the sea. This is the way he governs the nations and provides food in abundance. He fills his hands with lightning and commands it to strike its mark. His thunder announces the coming storm; even the cattle make known its approach.

At this my heart pounds and leaps from its place. Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice, to the rumbling that comes from his mouth. He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven and sends it to the ends of the earth. After that comes the sound of his roar; he thunders with his majestic voice. When his voice resounds, he holds nothing back. God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding.

He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’  So that everyone he has made may know his work, he stops all people from their labor. The animals take cover; they remain in their dens. The tempest comes out from its chamber, the cold from the driving winds. The breath of God produces ice, and the broad waters become frozen. He loads the clouds with moisture; he scatters his lightning through them. At his direction they swirl around over the face of the whole earth to do whatever he commands them.

….

The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power;  in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress. Therefore, people revere him, for does he not have regard for all the wise in heart?”

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Psalm 147

Sing to the Lord with grateful praise; make music to our God on the harp. He covers the sky with clouds; he supplies the earth with rain and makes grass grow on the hills. He provides food for the cattle and for the young ravens when they call. His pleasure is not in the strength of the horse, nor his delight in the legs of the warrior; the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their hope in his unfailing love.

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Sewing and Sowing… 29MAR

If there are folks who ask for help – we are to help. This is how we show our example. “Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.” Matthew 5: 42

Regardless of perceived effectiveness of homemade masks, I know that medical servants are clamoring for them. I know of sew-many sewers are now stitching away in “Mask-production” “Mass-production”… It is inspiriting to see the good come out of the bad – it is an important comfort that we can help to give others – and with every stitch we can place prayers and HOPE… So it’s time to SEW and SOW… SEW stitches and SOW seeds of HOPE…

And now to enter in public, people are being asked to cover their faces so that we don’t spread seeds of sickness. We can keep sewing and supplying their needs – what a great way to just give of our selves and our time… surely we can give from our excesses for successes in preventing the spread of disease.

1^st Peter 2:13-14 Submission to Authority – Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good.

Romans 13:5-6 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God’s servants, who give their full time to governing.

I thought the guard rail info was TMI… but I’ll post this anyway… it’s all true, guard rails are great prayer rails.

I think that ESPECIALLY NOW we realize that we MUST put our life plans into God’s Hands. Scripture is perfect: James 4:

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”  Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

———
Life and Living made possible by God – Guard Rail Prayer Rail

Friday night could not have predicted Sunday night memories of a great weekend… The Mercy of the Lord abounded to me… You could say that this is TMI for a devotion,  but this story is the truth: God rallies us – He rallied me when I asked…

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

Seeking the Lord’s intervention…

That Friday afternoon I had FOOD POISONING! YEAH food poisoning, knew EXACTLY what food must have caused it… But Saturday I had major plans for my Polar Plunge with 8000 other crazy fun people, plus my daughter came home this weekend. On Sunday I wanted to be singing at church AND my son had been planning a rock climbing excursion with friends.

And I got FOOD POISONING…

And I put my plans in His…

And God rallied me… 

I turned my plans over to Him and He turned my life around. 

Why? Maybe because I ASKED. Maybe because of my stubborn willpower or maybe because I am greedy for my own plans? At any rate, that weekend with so many great memories now was ONLY made possible by God, requested by my fevered prayers at the guard rail, humbled and hurling…. if it’s TMI so sorry,  but a guard rail makes for an impromptu Friday evening, side of the road, PRAYER RAIL… I knew EXACTLY what I ate wrong (my fault, a bad opened can of coconut milk that I had left out on my desk, but drank a lot of anyway)… At that guard rail I went through hell and back in 5 minutes… I was SURE it was food poisoning not viral (an added fevered prayer was that I didn’t want my family to get sick. They didn’t, and I had no other symptoms,  my body rejected that poison soon after it went in)…

I made it. God made it better as soon as I collected my thoughts to pray. 3 hours later I felt recovered and I knew WHY. He’s saved me from worse.

Today my face, my bagged eyes, are still flushed and bruised from all that guard rail trauma and strain. But I made it, Lord.  God is good.

I prayed being so very aware that I had to SURRENDER ALL my plans to Him… how I recovered so certainly and quickly was because of God… I was so surprised,  maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised that God can answer so specifically… 

He does.

We did have a great weekend. I put my life in His Hands and He gave me back a beautiful set of memories…. I’m grateful with prayers of thanks and looking forward to rest all my life and plans into His Hands… whew… blessed.

Guard rail and Prayer rail… ALL GLORY TO HIM.

Amen Amen Amen

 

(Thanks God! Really, THANKS…)

 

 

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Faith Flow Facebook Flowers Family Flock, 27MAR

I started a Zoom class last night from my Facebook friend Pastor Pierre on listening for God’s voice… He says it is important to ask open-ended questions… I appreciate that in the short practice time we had I tried to listen – and the Lord told me to “keep smiling” and to “take care of my flock“. My job is to handle things,  de-stress,  keep going… my preparation includes gathering life assurance (as well as financial life insurance) for both are needed for current reassurance to keep living life now. Life flowing means everyday life is for living and sharing… My job is to help my kids keep living – even after I am gone… take care of my flock…  My job is to take care of Jesus’s flock too.

There are many different ways for us to behave in this current COVID19 world crisis, one must listen to the Lord always and especially now… especially we must study how to not fly off the handle or go down the drain… in doing so we are to share the Spirit in whatever way we can.

Many people before us must have had it REALLY awful with their pandemics.  I do pray for those who are ill and have passed away, I pray that they found the Lord in time… and I pray for the financial strain on so many, and I remember to count my blessings…  today is Friday – always good to end the week on a good note so I got to work, took a walk to see flowers, went socially-distanced grocery shopping, got paid, navigated traffic, made dinner, had prayers with my kids, and gave reassurance to them that we are ok…  and now I can rest on the couch to write. I would say I live a sheltered cushy life.  So what am I to do? Not turn my back on the stability that He gave me but COUNT MY BLESSINGS AND WORK FOR GOD…   I love the scripture Luke 1:38, my life verse, mentioned in this article,  I remember it often,  “I am the handmaiden of the Lord.”

We could all listen a little closer right now…

Sharing Joy is still tops on my to-do list…

Faith Flowing, Facebook, Flowers, Family, Flock

Faith-filled Friday

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Isn’t it Ironic? 24MAR

I have this song stuck in my head by Alanis Morrissette – Isn’t it Ironic? don’t ya think?!!! A little too ironic…

Isn’t it ironic that God DOES go before us and we MUST follow to look for His hand in our blessings.

Isn’t it ironic that my neighbors were setting off fireworks last night while I was gardening – because home and stir crazy people find things to do.

Isn’t it ironic that people used to get snowed in all the time and were fine, and we are called to be enjoying home time with no snow.

Isn’t it ironic people think they don’t know what to do cooped up at home, when many of us really need a month just to catch up!

Isn’t it ironic that the cat who sleeps all day wakes me up to work.

Isn’t it ironic that my retreat group stressed about stopping to retool, but the retreat they didn’t have would have been canceled anyway…

Isn’t it ironic that the Lord worked me thru the task of canceling VBS last year, then gave me MORE work for Him. Now not running it this year I don’t have stress about preparations that would’ve be iffy. When the season starts, I will hope to help someone else catch up with theirs.

Isn’t it ironic that I had no idea how to get my family together in one place, especially me, and now each night we have been praying to the Lord.

Isn’t it ironic that I asked the Lord why I had gotten a good bonus this year, and finished my taxes early, there must be something that I needed that money for – that He knew before I knew, He needed me to steward that money for Him, people to share with, my debts to pay down a little, as well as cover extra expenses for my family, and there are!

Isn’t it ironic that the world slows down – but our WORK SPECIFICALLY FOR HIM speeds up.

Isn’t it ironic that I gave birth 6 weeks early, July 2001, which I didn’t understand, to my daughter, but then I was in a good routine with her by the time 9-11 occurred and she got me thru that day and those times with purpose.  And as she went to school a year early and then college a year early, she got that all in when she should have been a high school senior this year.  Isn’t it ironic that she got a prom, graduation, college visits, and fearless college year (3/4) to enjoy and mature – all that would have been different if she were born “on time” in September like these other 18yr olds. Isn’t it ironic that God’s differing timing was gifted timing.

Isn’t it ironic that my broken tooth was fixed just in time before my dentist closed, I got in to a private office because they cancelled their appointments.

Isn’t it ironic that I decided to donate blood last week even if the social distancing was semi-compromised, but then my iron was just barely too low and I was deferred. There are hidden blessings we can’t see.

Isn’t it ironic that life timing gets reset for this or that, which is beyond our understanding… but it always works out…

Isn’t it ironic that God takes care of us even when we can’t see beyond ourselves.

Isn’t it ironic that the Lord draws us closer when we think about fear and death in order to give us peace and life.

Isn’t it ironic all the things that you or I are thinking about but don’t have time to mention here, God has taken care of.

Isn’t it ironic that things that haven’t happened yet, He already knows how to take care of.

Isn’t it ironic that God ALREADY knows how He is going to get us thru today,  if only we look for His Peace.

“Isn’t it ironic”…

“Who would have thought,  it figures…”

Isn’t it ironic, no it’s truth in the Lord, that we have to trust, that we must have faith without sight…

Isn’t it not ironic that the Lord is here and sends help in droves.

“… Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice!  Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord and His Peace is at hand.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 4:4-7

Amen

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Jesus Tears and Smiles, 20MAR

I was excited to see this new plush Jesus doll that I ordered,  my 4th purchase, I have saved two for me and two bought for giving away. This new doll I had that feeling that I was supposed to give it to someone. I had bonus money and I thought to “splurge” on it – and I hoped this was the doll that someone, who knows the love of Jesus, could treasure. But who? I know now, but I didn’t know then whom God would lay on my heart to give it to. So I ordered it and then later, while the doll was in transit, I heard of a friend in need of cheer – ah, she might like it, a gift of love that stems from Him, that we get to share thru us.

If you know me, you would know I am excited to tell of Jesus when He is smiling and loving and holding and comforting. I am blessed to encourage the JOY. Why does Jesus smile? He smiles when someone believes in Him. He smiles when the little children come to Him – and aren’t we all called to become child-like in our faith?

So what smile would this new doll have? Each one so far triggered a distinct thought of the real Jesus. I was very excited when the box came. My curiosity was just supposed to be that, not for deep meaning but for fun, but I take the subtle triggers of my impressions to heart. What was the exciting message that God would lay on my heart from this doll’s squished position? And then – I opened the box.

First, I looked at His strong posture – puffed out chest and upright and attitude of ready to face the world, a knowledge of His future cross, His tomb, His destiny, His victory over death. Then, I was completely stopped in my tracks, and I started crying.  I never saw this coming, this doll looked like a crying Jesus.  A tear – this doll had a tear.

Smiling Jesus, yes – but one solid strong tear was coming down His right eye. Oh – my – soul. I started crying too. I knew in my heart why Jesus would have a tear, many tears. Oh His tears. My tears too. I know and I knew. I instantly had a Palm Sunday thought of the tears of Jesus: When Jesus came closer and could see Jerusalem, He cried and said: “It is too bad that today your people don’t know what will bring them peace! Now it is hidden……. because you did not see that God had come to save you.” Luke 19:41

The doll was not intended to be crying, it simply was a lose string, not cut off in the manufacturing process. But the tear was oh so real in my heart to the portion of His grieved spirit in me, in each of us who really know in truth that Jesus cries for each of God’s lost children… Jesus came to reach the lost children who don’t hear, don’t know, won’t believe until they believe. This thought is always heart wrenching to me when I enter a massive gathering of people. Yet at this very moment, the tears gave me a deeper smile knowing His love for all was why He came to save us all. I was then filled with heart-warming PEACE – this Jesus doll is truly smiling a warm and sweet SMILE (as I knew it would). A deep SMILE – alongside and as deep as his deep thoughts of His tear.

But I didn’t want to send my friend a doll with tears!!  I intended to send her a doll that would give her cheer.  It is a sweet doll, full of comfort when you hug it. And TRULY JESUS DOES SMILE for this friend of mine because she loves Jesus and she knows Him. And so, I cut this manufacturing flaw of a string tear carefully away from Jesus’ eye. It took only a couple small snips and even if there is a little bit of tear left in string you would have to look close to see it. So I hope that my friend ONLY and forever sees this Jesus doll’s SMILE.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.” 2nd Corinthians 1:3-5

Isn’t that the Holy Spirit for you, finding the right object to trigger teaching. Jesus came to save all, us who know Him and those who want to know Him. Plus He wants to save all the people who don’t even know Him, so He is going to try to introduce Himself to them thru us, thru His Spirit in us. Jesus is going to try to smile life into their hearts, strength in their spirits, conviction and correction into their lives, and move each one past their own tears of lostness. He wants everyone to feel His presence as He comes alongside them. Jesus is on a mission still, He wants us to help share our knowledge of the love of God.

On Palm Sunday, Jesus was SHOUTING to the Jerusalem crowd that He had cried over. Jesus, appointed by the Father to come to save the World, has now appointed us. God needs us to still work the crowds.  On Easter, Jesus found the way to life everlasting for us who accept Him. We do want to live forever for Easter is Every day, for our Lord God has already risen for the occasion.  So can we. So can we.

I took photos to remember this moment and this small token of knowledge is tucked away into my appointed job to cheer. Absorb the knowledge of the tear, and try to reach those who need to hear.

Jesus shouted to the crowds, “If you trust me, you are trusting not only me, but also God who sent me. For when you see me, you are seeing the one who sent me.  I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark. I will not judge those who hear me but don’t obey me, for I have come to save the world and not to judge it. But all who reject me and my message will be judged on the day of judgment by the truth I have spoken.  I don’t speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it. And I know his commands lead to eternal life; so I say whatever the Father tells me to say.” John 12:44-50

Amen Amen Amen

PS – a Pastor friend added:  Is this just like Jesus in another way? You’re right, the tear is simply a manufacturing mistake; and yet that’s what Jesus does: He takes all our mistakes, all our sins, all our brokenness and imperfection and first weeps over our pain and lostness. But then, O glory, THEN He redeems them, which is why the smile is always on His face whenever we look upon Him and come to Him!

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Keep Working, 17MAR

He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, 2 Timothy 1:9 NIV

In the lunchroom, one coworker asked another: “So now that client audits are cancelled for 2 months, what are you going to do?”  She said: “My regular work.”

Yes, everyone has plenty of “regular work” to keep busy, keep going,  keep preoccupied…  We are gifted skills for mission and focus, we are to NOT forget why we were given them, we are to keep working!  No follower of the Lord will run out of work, even though HE HAD DONE EVERYTHING. We are not to be idle but must work in double time.  The Lord Himself continuously walked into His Work, so can we.

We may have to retool at times, redirect our resources, but we still have work to do.

Many are huddling at home, me too, but even if everything else in the world stopped, I DON’T mean tackling that pile of sewing, I don’t mean opening 267 unread emails for work. I don’t mean starting thousands of backlogged work projects, opening articles I could read or even the 1001 articles that I could write… I don’t mean we are to be busy with busy work either!

I mean we are to work at everything and anything that we can do to LISTEN to the Lord’s instructions, then help the Lord help everyone else. We need Him and His correction factors helping put everything in place, mentally more than ever.

Don’t wallow, work.

Don’t dilly-dally, do.

Don’t worry, but pray and petition.

Don’t despair, dedicate.

Don’t stop, share.

Keep working for the Lord and He will keep walking you in the path of His plan.

Don’t forget that we should never boast about tomorrow, if the Lord changes our plans, it’s for a reason.  Keep working the plan that works you!!

Amen

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James 4

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

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James 5

Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is Near.

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James 1

Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

 

 

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Zone in, A to Z

 

Amaze, not admonish…

Behold, not belittle…

Conquer, not collapse…

Delight,  not destroy…

Engage, not enrage…

Fuel, not flee…

Grow, not gripe…

Help, not hinder…

Instill, not idle…

Juice-up, not jeer…

Know, not knock…

Live, not lose…

Minister, not mess-up

Name, not negate…

Own-up, not ostracize…

Peace, not perturb…

Quiet, not quiver…

Raise-up, not rebel…

See, not stumble…

Trust, not tumble…

Uplift, not undertow…

Visit, not victimize…

Walk, not wallow…

Xenograft, not xenophobia

Yearn, not yell…

Zone-in, not zone-out…

 

 

 

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Walk by the LIGHT, 14MAR

I love scripture that helps us live… this says everything about how we are to keep going:

Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”

We are to keep going.

We are to keep doing our service to Him.

We are to keep spreading HOPE, educating, sharing.

If this isn’t the BEST time to share the Lord, I don’t know when would be!

Captive audience of stressed out people, we can share the peace and let Christ shine…

Keep walking in the LIGHT.

Serve, not speculate…

Sing, not sleep.

Walk, not wallow…

Share, not stifle..

See, not stumble…

Build-up, not break down…

Conquer, not collapse…

Live, not die, live to live forever…

Love, love, love…

Amen

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The Death of Lazarus, John 11 (NIV)

Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.  (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair.) So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days, and then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.” “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”

Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they see by this world’s light. It is when a person walks at night that they stumble, for they have no light.”

After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.” His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

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“Is God Mad at Us?”, 13MAR

“Is God Mad at Us?”

This is the question my sweetest friend at work asked me yesterday. She is a devoted humble Christian and brings Jesus thru her actions and friendship to everyone at work. Workplaces are also needed places to share faith and comfort because there’s a captive audience of stressed busy people.  This friend surely strengthens me with hers.

“Is God mad at us?” She asks amid the panic and preparation for the COVID19 pandemic.

My gut answer instantly was the same as when I thought about it for a moment:  “No. “No, God is not mad at us, God LOVES us.”  Comfort…

If God puts you in a position to share comfort,  do so.

I said: “The world has seen worse pandemics that humans could not prepare for and it is a messy world already and surely the Lord is helping us thru this.  Look at how much time we are being given to prepare.”

I also know God IS watching how we act thru this, and seeing if our faith holds.

My friend said she’s been asking Jesus and He tells her to: “TRUST.”

I can appreciate having TRUST in Jesus. Having Him in my life these past 5 years have given peace beyond understanding. Often people ask me so many many questions as a scientist. I can speculate about the virus and the world as a good educated guesser. But for God, I KNOW THAT HE LOVES US. THAT’S TRUTH!

The first scripture story that came out of my mouth to answer my friend whether this crisis was a punishment for sin was about Jesus healing a blind man – John 9. The disciples asked Jesus: “this man was blind from birth, who sinned, him or his parents?” Jesus said it’s not because of sin.

The second story that came to me to share was about preparation – using common sense – stocking up with oil – Matthew 25. Half those waiting for the bridegroom stocked up on oil ahead of time, and half ran out.  That’s us…. We need to prepare for life AND for the return of Jesus at an unknown hour. God has been giving us many opportunities to get ready. You know that story of the man on the roof of a flooded house and the boats came to save him and he said God will save me – and then when he died from drowning he asked God – why didn’t you save me? And God said: who do you think sent the boats?!!!

Yes, in this new pandemic and in EVERY ordinary moment we are being given opportunity to prepare for the best and the worst…  and opportunity to share with others… We can stock up our houses, collect our children home, and reduce the fear. Yes – get your preparations but not selfishly – but servantly so that you can share your supplies too…

And remember that we have Jesus whether we live or die, we have the Kingdom to consider, therefore we must believe that we will be OK, we are to have faith in Jesus.

And then let’s get back to doing our normal jobs. (Later I remember the scripture – “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving”. Colossians 3:23)

Many of us have been brought to the truth thru the Holy Spirit, and we are learning more by taking time to educate ourselves… God LOVES us, I pull from the Truth I feel, not just from the facts I see… and so when we count our blessings, not our hassles, even thru this crisis, there is clear evidence GOD LOVES US.

How can we comfort concerned people?  We can recount scary news headlines OR we can repeat and encourage with the WORD that heals.

Another work faith friend asked me: even with all the preparations, what if there is a doomsday scenario? I said without thinking: “CAN I INTRODUCE YOU TO MY FRIEND JESUS?” Yes, in life and in death, I am always praying that the people hear and understand the voice of Jesus calling them – even if it is only seconds before they pass away. I know that any grain of faith is all that is needed…  I pray for comfort over pain.

Comfort, courage, education, FAITH.

Listen to the opportunities you are being given to cultivate FAITH. Maybe God is giving you the oars to the lifesaving boat for helping others…  Maybe also it is not the people asking with their fears but with their own Spirit in seeking to learn – why not give them the best GOOD news of the day.

Amen

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The Parable of the Ten Virgins

At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps.

 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’  “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

 “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’ “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’

 Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.    Matthew 25

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Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth.  His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him. As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”

 After saying this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means “Sent”). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing.

His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” Some claimed that he was.

Others said, “No, he only looks like him.”

But he himself insisted, “I am the man.”

 “How then were your eyes opened?” they asked.

He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.”

John 9

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Thank the Lord – Dislike the Devil, 11MAR

Although I want to travel this weekend, I understand the fears of my family who don’t want me to show up with worldly germs. They also have created their own little mini fortress from having to venture out… Better safe than sorry.  But Hmmm… Hype is a strong force.

How blessed I am to be sitting quietly in my own bed with not fear but concern, not panic but preparation, and know that the Lord has been taking care of me and my children IMMENSELY these past couple years and forever… I have to count blessings – from a tax return coming to food in the house to getting my broken tooth fixed *thanks tax return * before the world shuts down… I will collect my daughter from college for break, and keep her until they reopen her closed “virtual” college…

I will work out what the Lord is working out for me…

I have a work blog coming out soon about the virus, about my Irish roots and their determination to get to the new land of America, away from the potato famine and fevers of the land. They also had the Lord helping them put things into perspective…

First I feel like I need to warn about panic – about the devil and the HYPE that he turns into fear.

I DISLIKE the Devil for the hysteria-building, the scare-tactics, and promotion of self-preservation.

Quiet the hysteria and behave sensibly. Watch rather than worry – then watch some more. Take on precautions not paranoia. Be careful and caregiving, be cooperative not kooky…

Beat down the horrible hype and hysteria,  instead say “Hmmm… How’s God going to take care of this?” and “How can I help?!!”

Yes, with our help, God will help us focus our diligence and drive… Don’t let the devil stop us in our tracks.  Don’t fear death so much that you forget to live. Don’t build fear. Don’t just DON’T.

Let us counteract the hype with hope. Let us remember that the Lord is here with us.

Portray PEACE not panic and it is time to count blessings…

Those led thru the desert were taken care of, so will we be. We need to listen and obey to forever be OK.

Amen

Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors.  Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.

Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.

When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock.  He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.  Deuteronomy 8

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DEAL? YES JESUS, DEAL. 09MAR

When getting nervous about so many unknown situations in life, especially current worldwide known fears, we as people of faith have to put our trust in Jesus. We have to remember we are saved thru Him, in life and in death, either way. We are to look to Jesus as our Lord. Then we can get on with the work set before us… it’s sticky situations like these in which we are taught to try not to panic, and yet we are TOTALLY human, but it is EXACTLY times like these which JESUS WANTS TO HANDLE and give us Peace… He wants to calm us down… He wants our trust that we will look to Him for mental peace in order to mentally prepare for all realities…  He does comfort us to calm the hype we might self-generate or hype that’s thrust upon us, and also realize the gravity without flying off… JESUS allows us as servants to Our Father to put our issues into perspective. Jesus wants us to be level headed in all. He himself saw much, He had to focus on His own mission. So do we.

This plush Jesus doll of mine has his hand stretched out – as if he is reaching to shake our hands in agreement as if he is saying: “DEAL?“…  “Do you trust me to take care of you? To take care of this situation? Will you remember that you have a job to continue to do for me?”… “Trust me and let us shake on it. ”

As people of faith,  we must agree,  we must accept that handshake and say: “Yes Jesus, Deal. It’s a Deal.”

“Yes Jesus,  I put my trust in You. I will depend upon You thru the Holy Spirit to use me, to move me. I trust You.”

We are to live in the moment – all while preparing for the future – and not fearing life.

We are to read signs of the times and interpret the actions we can make. The truth is that people need the comfort of Jesus right now – SHARED THRU US – and we are to agree to show our calmness because of Him.

Remember, we did not choose Him, He chose us to go out and bear fruit (John 15).

Deal, Jesus. Deal.

Amen