Friday, October 31, 2014
Halloween.....
Halloween....
I have a hard time with Halloween...we are bombarded with costumes, candy, decorations, gruesome haunted houses, movies, etc. etc. etc...from late summer to the actual "holiday" and then Everything is quickly reduced to sell and forget ....making way for sugar highs, dentists, Fall, thanksgiving and a secular Christmas...
We have had so many bad things happen in the world lately, I don't need reminders through Halloween scenes in my neighborhood..I sound grumpy, I know...just not my thing...
There is such hope, wonder, light, color that I don't want it over taken with the darkness of the Halloween stuff...so we have fall festivals, pumpkin patch parties to cover over the blackness...all of which are fun, great church activities, outreaches......and wonderful alternatives....so thank you to those who are creative and work on these things...
Thank YOU for the Light that overcomes the darkness.....the victory through Christ over death...
Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
1 Peter 5:8-9 NIV
1 Samuel 28 [Full Chapter]
In those days the Philistines gathered their forces to fight against Israel. Achish said to David, “You must understand that you and your men will accompany me in the army.” David said, “Then you will see for yourself what your servant can do.” Achish replied, “Very well, I will make you my bodyguard for life.” [ Saul and the Medium at Endor ] Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in his own town of Ramah. Saul had expelled the mediums and spiritists from the land. .
2 Kings 9:22When Joram saw Jehu he asked, “Have you come in peace, Jehu?” “How can there be peace,” Jehu replied, “as long as all the idolatry and witchcraft of your mother Jezebel abound?”
2 Chronicles 33:6He sacrificed his children in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, practiced divination and witchcraft, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.
Micah 5:12I will destroy your witchcraft and you will no longer cast spells.
Nahum 3:4all because of the wanton lust of a prostitute, alluring, the mistress of sorceries, who enslaved nations by her prostitution and peoples by her witchcraft.
Galatians 5:20idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions
Deuteronomy 18:9-11New International Version (NIV)
Occult Practices
9 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. 10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, 11 or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Family weddings....
Family Weddings....
I will admit I like to watch "19 and counting" on TV. It is relaxing, clean, fun, and I don't have to wonder what will leave bad memories in my brain..plus they have been going through the first daughter getting ready for marriage and the wedding itself....I do miss working with brides, getting to know each couple, encouraging them, laughing with them, decorating with them, the nervousness, the family arriving, the awe...the whole venue....it was fun, stressful, wild, and so touching....
Now I see many of these couples with their children, their growing lives going in many directions....or not....some couples survived and others didn't...it breaks my heart to see the disintegration of those wedding vows, those families....disheartening to remember the time spent getting ready only to have it fall apart....word by word, emotion by emotion....
Four pictures from our four children's wedding stand out...just as father Duggar stood with his daughter, teary eyed...my husband standing with each of his children, walking two daughters down the aisle... Entrusting those grooms with his treasures...and with our sons, entrusting those grooms to their new brides...
Knowing that they are the Lord's...He will teach them, He will help them, He will mold them...we have just been a tool used in the process of their growing to adulthood....we wanted the best for each...and we got that abundantly with each new addition...like the better wine came later at Christ's hand
in the wedding at Cana in the New Testament....
How we are being prepared for our wedding with Christ...those robes, that mansion, that feast, everything in readiness....no tears...just Joy....no divorce, only eternal rightness...
Thank YOU for pictures of weddings, in our lives, in Your word...tears, laughter, joy...the best....
John 2:1-10New International Version (NIV)
Jesus Changes Water Into Wine
2 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”
4 “Woman,why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”
5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.
7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.
8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”
They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside 10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”
Revelation 9:6-9 "Hallelujah!
For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready.
8 Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear.”
For our Lord God Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and be glad
and give him glory!
For the wedding of the Lamb has come,
and his bride has made herself ready.
8 Fine linen, bright and clean,
was given her to wear.”
Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
SAD.....
SAD.....
Romans 5:1-5am
My husband suffered from SAD, seasonal affective disorder. He was born and raised in the Willamette Valley of Oregon, where it rains a lot and the skies are gray....but, he didn't know he had SAD until we went back from the sunny skies of Nevada, to go to school and care for his mother for a period of time...when we would descend the Cascades into the valley, it was like a black cloud came and hovered over him...is was so sad to watch....
He did much better in the sunny environs of Nevada...or with lots of windows with sun shining in to "enlighten" his brain...
What made me think of this, was the gray skies we have had this last week. While I was walking on the sunny days, the brilliant fall colors all around were vibrant, filling the sky with color..then I walked on a cloudy day, same path, same trees, same fall colors, but everything was dull, lifeless feeling...
Hope and no hope....hope gives life, vibrancy, purpose, color, smiles....sunny days...
We, who are Christians have hope...Christ gives hope...
No Hope takes away the life, the color, and we just exist....no purpose...grayness...sonlessness..no Christ....
Job 8:13New International Version (NIV)
13 Such is the destiny of all who forget God;
so perishes the hope of the godless
so perishes the hope of the godless
Peace and Hope
5 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 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.3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame....
Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
For through the Spirit we eagerly await by faith the righteousness for which we hope.
Colossians 1:27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
1 Timothy 4:10 That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.
Monday, October 27, 2014
Challenged.....
Challenged.....
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12 NIV
Last week we were challenged to fast...or at least look into it as a discipline .....
This week we were challenged to examine which kind of soil we are at this time for accepting the seed, the Word, from the Sower, God....
Obedience is challenging in itself...it may not be fun to do...it may be difficult...but, it brings blessing....just as reading the Word may not be easy...but if we let it permeate our souls, judging our thoughts and attitudes, we grow....and we may have to change....
For some, change is great and for others, it is challenging to say the least....there seems to be seasons when everything is change and at other times, there is rest from change...
I remember a year when the theme was "flexibility"...it was one of the most challenging years of my life....but it was just the preparation for the next year which demanded more that flexibility....challenging me to my very inner most strength and beyond into God's strength ....into that joints and marrow of the Word....the willingness to let Him dwell deeply.....
Challenged everyday to live in that obedience ....to garner words of wisdom ....to be the best soil...to examine....to listen....to share....to love...to encourage...to exhibit the fruit...the wrench out the sin that so easily entwines......to flee from the wiles of evil.....yes, I am challenged...sometimes softly, tenderly and other times, vigorously....
Thank YOU for the challenges, even when I don't like them...the searching of my being to clear out the debris that is dishonoring to You....
Job 9:19 If it is a matter of strength, he is mighty! And if it is a matter of justice, who can challenge him?
Judges 8:1b...... And they challenged him vigorously.
2 Kings 14:8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, with the challenge: “Come, let us face each other in battle.”
For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
Hebrews 4:12 NIV
Last week we were challenged to fast...or at least look into it as a discipline .....
This week we were challenged to examine which kind of soil we are at this time for accepting the seed, the Word, from the Sower, God....
Obedience is challenging in itself...it may not be fun to do...it may be difficult...but, it brings blessing....just as reading the Word may not be easy...but if we let it permeate our souls, judging our thoughts and attitudes, we grow....and we may have to change....
For some, change is great and for others, it is challenging to say the least....there seems to be seasons when everything is change and at other times, there is rest from change...
I remember a year when the theme was "flexibility"...it was one of the most challenging years of my life....but it was just the preparation for the next year which demanded more that flexibility....challenging me to my very inner most strength and beyond into God's strength ....into that joints and marrow of the Word....the willingness to let Him dwell deeply.....
Challenged everyday to live in that obedience ....to garner words of wisdom ....to be the best soil...to examine....to listen....to share....to love...to encourage...to exhibit the fruit...the wrench out the sin that so easily entwines......to flee from the wiles of evil.....yes, I am challenged...sometimes softly, tenderly and other times, vigorously....
Thank YOU for the challenges, even when I don't like them...the searching of my being to clear out the debris that is dishonoring to You....
Job 9:19 If it is a matter of strength, he is mighty! And if it is a matter of justice, who can challenge him?
Judges 8:1b...... And they challenged him vigorously.
2 Kings 14:8 Then Amaziah sent messengers to Jehoash son of Jehoahaz, the son of Jehu, king of Israel, with the challenge: “Come, let us face each other in battle.”
Sunday, October 26, 2014
Things seem to add up.....my pity parties...
Things seem to add up...my pity parties....
First, it was the "bucket List"...lost dreams...new dreams
Then, the trip to Jawbone...memories ....new memories
-My father's birthday...loss...
-Lessons on gifting and stepping out in God's plan...
-the question, "who am I"....why?
-the songs in the car in sweet succession..." Here's my heart, Lord, speak what is true", "blessings", " I have surrendered to Your design", "be multiplied","you are an overcomer"
It seems there is a pattern .....have you ever looked back on days, weeks, subjects, circumstances and asked, "what are You trying to tell me, Lord?"...
This has happened innumerable times over my life....my family's life...things pointing in certain direction, life style, lessons learned or to learn...sometimes in preparation for events to come or lessons to share...
I will admit that there are times, I don't want the lessons...they can be tough, overwhelming...but God whispers in His strength, His words of encouragement, His love....there are tears, forgiveness, surrender...and we are back on track...
Someone once said, "the deeper the lesson, the deeper the message".....it may not go my way, but it mostly certainly will be God's best way....
Thank YOU for your constant vigilance in my life...those constant lessons, that constant strength from which to draw upon...help me to draw on it and not be overwhelmed by the lessons of life...to go deeper into You....
Psalm 40:1-3New International Version (NIV)
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
1 I waited patiently for the Lord;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the Lord
and put their trust in him.
Psalm 103:3-5New International Version (NIV)
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Ephesians 3:16-17New International Version (NIV)
16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
Philippians 4:13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Colossians 1:10-12New International Version (NIV)
10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified youto share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.
Colossians 2:6-8New International Version (NIV)
Spiritual Fullness in Christ
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces[a] of this world rather than on Christ.
First, it was the "bucket List"...lost dreams...new dreams
Then, the trip to Jawbone...memories ....new memories
-My father's birthday...loss...
-Lessons on gifting and stepping out in God's plan...
-the question, "who am I"....why?
-the songs in the car in sweet succession..." Here's my heart, Lord, speak what is true", "blessings", " I have surrendered to Your design", "be multiplied","you are an overcomer"
It seems there is a pattern .....have you ever looked back on days, weeks, subjects, circumstances and asked, "what are You trying to tell me, Lord?"...
This has happened innumerable times over my life....my family's life...things pointing in certain direction, life style, lessons learned or to learn...sometimes in preparation for events to come or lessons to share...
I will admit that there are times, I don't want the lessons...they can be tough, overwhelming...but God whispers in His strength, His words of encouragement, His love....there are tears, forgiveness, surrender...and we are back on track...
Someone once said, "the deeper the lesson, the deeper the message".....it may not go my way, but it mostly certainly will be God's best way....
Thank YOU for your constant vigilance in my life...those constant lessons, that constant strength from which to draw upon...help me to draw on it and not be overwhelmed by the lessons of life...to go deeper into You....
Psalm 40:1-3New International Version (NIV)
For the director of music. Of David. A psalm.
1 I waited patiently for the Lord;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
2 He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
3 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear the Lord
and put their trust in him.
Psalm 103:3-5New International Version (NIV)
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
Ephesians 3:16-17New International Version (NIV)
16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love,
Philippians 4:13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
Colossians 1:10-12New International Version (NIV)
10 so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified youto share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light.
Colossians 2:6-8New International Version (NIV)
Spiritual Fullness in Christ
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces[a] of this world rather than on Christ.
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Voices....
Many voices.....
I was going hither and yon....following a list of things "to do"...first here and then there....just one of those days....exercise, groceries, post office, notary....etc....
At exercise, there were two classes go on, conversations all around, and music playing....voices all around and I had a hard time following the one voice that I was supposed to and it happened to be the quietest...so really had to concentrate to hear that one small voice.....
Then to the big box store....carts, scrambling to the various aisles, weaving in and out...almost need traffic lights to get around.....demonstrators selling their goods...restaurant owners with their huge carts, kids running in and out of the lines....I am watching my list...my small voice of reason...
Then off again, through the rain, to another and yet another business....the radio broadcasting its news...
Busyness and voices all around...pounding of rain....focus...or lack there of...a whirlwind of life picking up here and there...rearranging ....days..weeks..months ...moments...thoughts...all the while trying to listen to that one important voice in the quietness of my soul ....the right decisions, the right way....
I want to listen to God's voice in the inner chamber of my heart and soul....but sometimes the distractions of the world close in, trying to drown it out...I meant the eternal voice to direct, not the temporal...I want the meaningful, not the meaningless...
Thank YOU, that you speak to our hearts. minds even in the busyness of life. You are always there guiding with Your words if wisdom, encouragement, love....help me to listen to your words and not the worlds....
Numbers 7:89 When Moses entered the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord, he heard the voice speaking to him from between the two cherubim above the atonement cover on the ark of the covenant law. In this way the Lord spoke to him.
1 Kings 19:12
After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
Psalm 49:3 My mouth will speak words of wisdom; the meditation of my heart will give you understanding.
Psalm 50:7 “Listen, my people, and I will speak; I will testify against you, Israel: I am God, your God.
Proverbs 6:22 When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you.
John 3:34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.
John 4:26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 5:19-20 NIV
1 Peter 4:11 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.
1 John 4:5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.
I was going hither and yon....following a list of things "to do"...first here and then there....just one of those days....exercise, groceries, post office, notary....etc....
At exercise, there were two classes go on, conversations all around, and music playing....voices all around and I had a hard time following the one voice that I was supposed to and it happened to be the quietest...so really had to concentrate to hear that one small voice.....
Then to the big box store....carts, scrambling to the various aisles, weaving in and out...almost need traffic lights to get around.....demonstrators selling their goods...restaurant owners with their huge carts, kids running in and out of the lines....I am watching my list...my small voice of reason...
Then off again, through the rain, to another and yet another business....the radio broadcasting its news...
Busyness and voices all around...pounding of rain....focus...or lack there of...a whirlwind of life picking up here and there...rearranging ....days..weeks..months ...moments...thoughts...all the while trying to listen to that one important voice in the quietness of my soul ....the right decisions, the right way....
I want to listen to God's voice in the inner chamber of my heart and soul....but sometimes the distractions of the world close in, trying to drown it out...I meant the eternal voice to direct, not the temporal...I want the meaningful, not the meaningless...
Thank YOU, that you speak to our hearts. minds even in the busyness of life. You are always there guiding with Your words if wisdom, encouragement, love....help me to listen to your words and not the worlds....
Numbers 7:89 When Moses entered the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord, he heard the voice speaking to him from between the two cherubim above the atonement cover on the ark of the covenant law. In this way the Lord spoke to him.
1 Kings 19:12
After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
Psalm 49:3 My mouth will speak words of wisdom; the meditation of my heart will give you understanding.
Psalm 50:7 “Listen, my people, and I will speak; I will testify against you, Israel: I am God, your God.
Proverbs 6:22 When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you.
John 3:34 For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit.
John 4:26 Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”
speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 5:19-20 NIV
1 Peter 4:11 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.
1 John 4:5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them.
Friday, October 24, 2014
Jawbone flats/Opal creek....
Jawbone/Opal creek, Oregon.....
In 1976/77, my husband was geology consulting for a major mining company. They sent him to Oregon north and east of Salem to look at various little mining communities which were started in the 1930's...
He evaluated several, but we actually lived in a place called Jawbone flats, north in the mountains above Mehama off of the Little North fork of the Santiam River. There were little homes built in the 1930's, some updated and some not...we lived in the one that had a hot water heater and bathtub..all were loosely wired for electricity...we had a generator at first and then a pelton wheel to run the electricity...wood heat from a small wood stove, cooking with an old propane stove.....the charm of it all was wonderful...
The whole experience made my husband appreciate looking for minerals in the wide open spaces of Nevada. The Opal creek area is beautifully endowed with vine maple, berries, old growth cedar, moss, fir, alder trees which cover everything ....very few exposed rocks except in the roads and rivers...he did find a mineable mineral deposit, but it was under the old growth timber...which cutting down was unacceptable...
There are old mining shafts, dumps, milling buildings from old mining workings...but have been mostly grown over now...
We drove out of camp every Weekend for church with my husband's parents or to town, as well as to do laundry and grocery shopping...we had friends in Portland as well to see while they were in seminary....we did a lot of Bible reading, studying, as there was no tv or radio. We did have a "tape recorder" which our four year old son would listen to with a multitude of story tapes...we even had some adult Bible studies as well...we really lacked nothing...
All this being said, one of my daughters and I went back this past weekend before the change in the fall weather...when we lived there, you could drive into the camp, through a locked gate.....now, you park three miles away and hike on the gravel road to get there...
Now the whole area is a wilderness area..with permitting, classes, rooms to rent, educational awareness and programs...but it essentially looks the same...beautiful ...serene ....quiet....more trails, which are marked and little bridges to get to them....the old growth cedar still standing, guarding the minerals below....the mosses, covering the rocks with blankets of greenery...leaves drifting down with the gentle breezes, fall colors vivid in the bright sunlight...the creeks and river, crystal clear, revealing the rocks below....
all of God's creation open to enjoy and steward..He is such a magnificent creator...the beauty of it all ......
Thank YOU for your creation....the joy You must have in sharing it with us...
Genesis 1
Numbers 24:5-7a
5 “How beautiful are your tents, Jacob,
your dwelling places, Israel!
6 “Like valleys they spread out,
like gardens beside a river,
like aloes planted by the Lord,
like cedars beside the waters.
7 Water will flow from their buckets;
their seed will have abundant water.
Psalm 96:12 Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the Lord.
Isaiah 55:11-13New King James Version (NKJV)
11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
12 “For you shall go out with joy,
And be led out with peace;
The mountains and the hills
Shall break forth into singing before you,
And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree,
And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree;
And it shall be to the Lord for a name,
For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
http://www.opalcreek.org
In 1976/77, my husband was geology consulting for a major mining company. They sent him to Oregon north and east of Salem to look at various little mining communities which were started in the 1930's...
He evaluated several, but we actually lived in a place called Jawbone flats, north in the mountains above Mehama off of the Little North fork of the Santiam River. There were little homes built in the 1930's, some updated and some not...we lived in the one that had a hot water heater and bathtub..all were loosely wired for electricity...we had a generator at first and then a pelton wheel to run the electricity...wood heat from a small wood stove, cooking with an old propane stove.....the charm of it all was wonderful...
The whole experience made my husband appreciate looking for minerals in the wide open spaces of Nevada. The Opal creek area is beautifully endowed with vine maple, berries, old growth cedar, moss, fir, alder trees which cover everything ....very few exposed rocks except in the roads and rivers...he did find a mineable mineral deposit, but it was under the old growth timber...which cutting down was unacceptable...
There are old mining shafts, dumps, milling buildings from old mining workings...but have been mostly grown over now...
We drove out of camp every Weekend for church with my husband's parents or to town, as well as to do laundry and grocery shopping...we had friends in Portland as well to see while they were in seminary....we did a lot of Bible reading, studying, as there was no tv or radio. We did have a "tape recorder" which our four year old son would listen to with a multitude of story tapes...we even had some adult Bible studies as well...we really lacked nothing...
All this being said, one of my daughters and I went back this past weekend before the change in the fall weather...when we lived there, you could drive into the camp, through a locked gate.....now, you park three miles away and hike on the gravel road to get there...
Now the whole area is a wilderness area..with permitting, classes, rooms to rent, educational awareness and programs...but it essentially looks the same...beautiful ...serene ....quiet....more trails, which are marked and little bridges to get to them....the old growth cedar still standing, guarding the minerals below....the mosses, covering the rocks with blankets of greenery...leaves drifting down with the gentle breezes, fall colors vivid in the bright sunlight...the creeks and river, crystal clear, revealing the rocks below....
all of God's creation open to enjoy and steward..He is such a magnificent creator...the beauty of it all ......
Thank YOU for your creation....the joy You must have in sharing it with us...
Genesis 1
Numbers 24:5-7a
5 “How beautiful are your tents, Jacob,
your dwelling places, Israel!
6 “Like valleys they spread out,
like gardens beside a river,
like aloes planted by the Lord,
like cedars beside the waters.
7 Water will flow from their buckets;
their seed will have abundant water.
Psalm 96:12 Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the Lord.
Isaiah 55:11-13New King James Version (NKJV)
11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth;
It shall not return to Me void,
But it shall accomplish what I please,
And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.
12 “For you shall go out with joy,
And be led out with peace;
The mountains and the hills
Shall break forth into singing before you,
And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree,
And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree;
And it shall be to the Lord for a name,
For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”
http://www.opalcreek.org
Thursday, October 23, 2014
Windows in time.....
Windows in time.....
Over the years, I have taken pictures of windows....windows in time....mostly old ones looking in and out....they show history, long forgotten times and places, personality ....they are like looking at windows of a soul to me..what was the history of this or that place...who lived here, how did they live? ....if they could talk, what would they say.....in some, the trees were probably not there at the time the house was built...no beautiful gardens as we see them now...or the paint was probably fresh and kept up...not falling off, ....history....
Noah was instructed to put a window in the Ark...
There were windows for escape both in the old and new testaments ....
Daniel opened his windows toward Jerusalem .....
Windows, windows throughout scripture...to let light in, to see out, to observe, to watch...to keep darkness at bay...to bless...an interesting study of life...ours and times past and times in the future....helping us look to the Light....and letting the Light shine on our lives...
Thank YOU, even for the windows in time....the times of our lives, times of others, history....blessings...
Genesis 6:16 You shall make a window for the ark, and you shall finish it to a cubit from above; and set the door of the ark in its side. You shall make it with lower, second, and third decks.
Joshua 2:15 Then she let them down by a rope through the window, for her house was on the city wall; she dwelt on the wall.
1 Kings 7:4There were windows with beveled frames in three rows, and window was opposite window in three tiers.
Ecclesiastes 12:3 In the day when the keepers of the house tremble, And the strong men bow down; When the grinders cease because they are few, And those that look through the windows grow dim;
Daniel 6:10 [ Daniel in the Lions’ Den ] Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.
Malachi 3:10 Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, That there may be food in My house, And try Me now in this,” Says the Lord of hosts, “If I will not open for you the windows of heaven And pour out for you such blessing That there will not be room enough to receive it.
Acts 20:9 And in a window sat a certain young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep. He was overcome by sleep; and as Paul continued speaking, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead.
2 Corinthians 11:33 but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall, and escaped from his hands.
Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Birthdays....
Birthdays......
I keep getting reminded of upcoming birthdays, not my own, on some birthday reminder list....it is fun to see who is having birthdays..and I know I don't get all of them...for whatever reason...
Some are birthdays from people whom I have seen grow up from babyhood and are now adults with children of their own...it is amazing and a blessing to see these people who, not so very long ago, were children, with children of their own and parenting.....making their parents blessed in their descendants....me included, on this one....
I had to look up the origins of birthday celebrations...they weren't very good, I am afraid...but came across this quote to share....amongst the variety of others....
"Birthdays are a good reminder of what God has given us. In fact, reminders are biblical; God commanded the Israelites to set up stones to remind them of what God has done for them (Joshua 4:1–7). Moreover, when celebrating birthdays, we would be remiss if we were not to remember the most important birthday—the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
We don’t know the exact day of Jesus Christ’s birth, but the particular date is really not the point anyway. What is important about the birth of Jesus Christ is the reminder for all of us. Jesus loved us so much that He sacrificed Himself to wash away all of our sins with His blood (Revelation 1:5). If we are to love others as Jesus commanded, then we need to remember the love of Jesus and what He did for us (John 13:34–25)." https://answersingenesis.org/answers/biblical-authority-devotional/why-do-we-celebrate-birthdays/
It is a time of rejoicing for our culture...remember that 1st picture of a one year old, plowing into a piece of cake...(and now they make special cakes for one year olds),....frosting all over their cute pudgy hands and face? Or later, trying to blow out a candle? Birthdays over the years.....fond memories....makes you want to pull down the photo albums and reminisce....
Thank YOU for times of celebration....family, memories.....thank YOU for Your Son's birth, the most important of all...
Psalm 68:3 But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful.
Psalm 68:4 Sing to God, sing in praise of his name, extol him who rides on the clouds; rejoice before him—his name is the Lord.
Psalm 70:4 But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who long for your saving help always say, “The Lord is great!”
Proverbs 23:25 May your father and mother rejoice; may she who gave you birth be joyful!
Psalm 118:24New King James Version (NKJV)
24 This is the day the Lord has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
Luke 1:14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth,
I keep getting reminded of upcoming birthdays, not my own, on some birthday reminder list....it is fun to see who is having birthdays..and I know I don't get all of them...for whatever reason...
Some are birthdays from people whom I have seen grow up from babyhood and are now adults with children of their own...it is amazing and a blessing to see these people who, not so very long ago, were children, with children of their own and parenting.....making their parents blessed in their descendants....me included, on this one....
I had to look up the origins of birthday celebrations...they weren't very good, I am afraid...but came across this quote to share....amongst the variety of others....
"Birthdays are a good reminder of what God has given us. In fact, reminders are biblical; God commanded the Israelites to set up stones to remind them of what God has done for them (Joshua 4:1–7). Moreover, when celebrating birthdays, we would be remiss if we were not to remember the most important birthday—the birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.
We don’t know the exact day of Jesus Christ’s birth, but the particular date is really not the point anyway. What is important about the birth of Jesus Christ is the reminder for all of us. Jesus loved us so much that He sacrificed Himself to wash away all of our sins with His blood (Revelation 1:5). If we are to love others as Jesus commanded, then we need to remember the love of Jesus and what He did for us (John 13:34–25)." https://answersingenesis.org/answers/biblical-authority-devotional/why-do-we-celebrate-birthdays/
It is a time of rejoicing for our culture...remember that 1st picture of a one year old, plowing into a piece of cake...(and now they make special cakes for one year olds),....frosting all over their cute pudgy hands and face? Or later, trying to blow out a candle? Birthdays over the years.....fond memories....makes you want to pull down the photo albums and reminisce....
Thank YOU for times of celebration....family, memories.....thank YOU for Your Son's birth, the most important of all...
Psalm 68:3 But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful.
Psalm 68:4 Sing to God, sing in praise of his name, extol him who rides on the clouds; rejoice before him—his name is the Lord.
Psalm 70:4 But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who long for your saving help always say, “The Lord is great!”
Proverbs 23:25 May your father and mother rejoice; may she who gave you birth be joyful!
Psalm 118:24New King James Version (NKJV)
24 This is the day the Lord has made;
We will rejoice and be glad in it.
Luke 1:14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth,
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
Those who work among you.....
Those who work hard among you......
I have seen and lived through church break ups...a devastating event...disillusionment, hatred, horrible actions/words, growth, love and grace abounding....loss of a generation of people for the hurts it elicits.....all for human pride, arrogance, sins of all sorts.....
We have seen case after case of fallen leaders in churches in this generation just as in any generation....we just hear about it quicker now...sometimes it is far away and sometimes it is our own church family....it pits one group against another, one family against another....those we have loved, cared for, encouraged, built up, supported in a multitude of ways.....it maybe even against us....as we stand, stripped, naked, drained, humbled, before a congregation who are throwing the stones of emotion....either in the wrong or right...it hurts...damaging lives in a multitude of ways....
So many hurting churches everywhere.....hurting people.....loss of witness, loss of ________, you name it......grief, healing, restoration takes time, growth, forgiveness....in big measures.....listening time and time again to those uttered words which fill the air and cannot be taken back, or written letters which are read and not easily forgotten..division among people that is hard to mend....sometimes seemingly impossible....
I appreciated this part of scripture in 1 Thessalonians ......
"1 Thessalonians 5:11-14 New International Version (NIV)
11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 12 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone."
We have a job to do...encourage, build up, hold up, live at peace, warn, help, be patient...."above all love one another"
thank YOU....even for the times of disillusionment....in the body, it is a chance to grow, purge myself of sin....let Your love light shine on those whose lives are torn apart by church splits, break ups....and families whose ties are broken....let them dwell in your love, sheltered from the storm.....help each of us to find out footing in You....to those paths made straight....
2 Corinthians 13:11 [ Final Greetings ] Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.
Galatians 5:13 [ Life by the Spirit ] You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
Ephesians 4:2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
1 Thessalonians 4:9 Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.
2 Thessalonians 1:3 [ Thanksgiving and Prayer ] We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.
1 Peter 1:22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.
1 Peter 3:8 [ Suffering for Doing Good ] Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.
I have seen and lived through church break ups...a devastating event...disillusionment, hatred, horrible actions/words, growth, love and grace abounding....loss of a generation of people for the hurts it elicits.....all for human pride, arrogance, sins of all sorts.....
We have seen case after case of fallen leaders in churches in this generation just as in any generation....we just hear about it quicker now...sometimes it is far away and sometimes it is our own church family....it pits one group against another, one family against another....those we have loved, cared for, encouraged, built up, supported in a multitude of ways.....it maybe even against us....as we stand, stripped, naked, drained, humbled, before a congregation who are throwing the stones of emotion....either in the wrong or right...it hurts...damaging lives in a multitude of ways....
So many hurting churches everywhere.....hurting people.....loss of witness, loss of ________, you name it......grief, healing, restoration takes time, growth, forgiveness....in big measures.....listening time and time again to those uttered words which fill the air and cannot be taken back, or written letters which are read and not easily forgotten..division among people that is hard to mend....sometimes seemingly impossible....
I appreciated this part of scripture in 1 Thessalonians ......
"1 Thessalonians 5:11-14 New International Version (NIV)
11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 12 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you. 13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other. 14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone."
We have a job to do...encourage, build up, hold up, live at peace, warn, help, be patient...."above all love one another"
thank YOU....even for the times of disillusionment....in the body, it is a chance to grow, purge myself of sin....let Your love light shine on those whose lives are torn apart by church splits, break ups....and families whose ties are broken....let them dwell in your love, sheltered from the storm.....help each of us to find out footing in You....to those paths made straight....
2 Corinthians 13:11 [ Final Greetings ] Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.
Galatians 5:13 [ Life by the Spirit ] You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
Ephesians 4:2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
1 Thessalonians 4:9 Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.
2 Thessalonians 1:3 [ Thanksgiving and Prayer ] We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.
1 Peter 1:22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other, love one another deeply, from the heart.
1 Peter 3:8 [ Suffering for Doing Good ] Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.
Monday, October 20, 2014
Riding with a whining dog....
Riding with a whining dog...
I recently took my dog for a ride....2 1/2 hours....he whined the whole way...he usually like rides, but for this time I had him in his crate, which he didn't like at all...so he whined....in a confined spot...impatient to get to his destination....
Concurrently, I was listening to a book on prayer....as the ride continued, it came to me...do I whine, When I am praying...continuously...is my prayer list just a litany of complaints, whining over this and that, impatient for an answer...instead of calming down, waiting, listening, waiting, praising, waiting, until I finally settle down to the task at hand...does my praying follow any of the patterns we are given in the Word? Or do I just whine about my circumstances? Do I adore? Do I confess? Do i praise? Do I forgive? Do I thank? Or do I just head right into the asking...without thought of all the positive? It is a ritual rather than a privilege? Is it heartfelt or habit? Is it real or show? Do I just whine??
thank YOU for prayer! Your Word spoken to our hearts, The Holy Spirit who intercedes when we can't put into words our concerns....help me not to be just a whiner, not waiting for Your answers.....help me glorify You in all that I do...in Your Blessed and Holy Name ...
Matthew 6:5-15
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “This, then, is how you should 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 today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one."
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
I recently took my dog for a ride....2 1/2 hours....he whined the whole way...he usually like rides, but for this time I had him in his crate, which he didn't like at all...so he whined....in a confined spot...impatient to get to his destination....
Concurrently, I was listening to a book on prayer....as the ride continued, it came to me...do I whine, When I am praying...continuously...is my prayer list just a litany of complaints, whining over this and that, impatient for an answer...instead of calming down, waiting, listening, waiting, praising, waiting, until I finally settle down to the task at hand...does my praying follow any of the patterns we are given in the Word? Or do I just whine about my circumstances? Do I adore? Do I confess? Do i praise? Do I forgive? Do I thank? Or do I just head right into the asking...without thought of all the positive? It is a ritual rather than a privilege? Is it heartfelt or habit? Is it real or show? Do I just whine??
thank YOU for prayer! Your Word spoken to our hearts, The Holy Spirit who intercedes when we can't put into words our concerns....help me not to be just a whiner, not waiting for Your answers.....help me glorify You in all that I do...in Your Blessed and Holy Name ...
Matthew 6:5-15
5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. 7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.
9 “This, then, is how you should 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 today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one."
14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.
Saturday, October 18, 2014
Helping....
Helping .....
My husband and I always thought it would be fun to "retire" to going around and working with others on financial training....whether here in the states or abroad..we had done some locally with small groups and individuals...what fun to see others light up and see their potential in giving, serving.....finding purpose with their gifting, lives....
The Crown financial group still does this here and around the world with all income brackets...the Dave Ramsey group does this as well...
When you think that 60 percent of marriage problems and divorces are caused by financial issues, this is an important topic to touch upon....that is inside and outside the church....we are all human and have our imperfections and ideas on how money is to be spent...and they may not match one another...
Of course, nothing is more important than salvation that is given freely....then comes discipleship and learning....
Money is talked about so much in the Bible....how we handle it, idolize it, waste it, love it, give it, hide it, search for it, the provision of it.....it wasn't a forbidden topic...
It is a worthy topic to learn about and ponder in today's world....
Thank YOU for the provision, great or small...You do provide, teach, abundantly so that we can have to blessing of giving as well....
1 Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Matthew 20:15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
2 Corinthians 9:6-7
[ Generosity Encouraged ] Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Malachi 3:8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings.
Psalm 112:9 They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor, their righteousness endures forever; their horn will be lifted high in honor.
Proverbs 11:24 One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.
Crown.org
Daveramsey.com
My husband and I always thought it would be fun to "retire" to going around and working with others on financial training....whether here in the states or abroad..we had done some locally with small groups and individuals...what fun to see others light up and see their potential in giving, serving.....finding purpose with their gifting, lives....
The Crown financial group still does this here and around the world with all income brackets...the Dave Ramsey group does this as well...
When you think that 60 percent of marriage problems and divorces are caused by financial issues, this is an important topic to touch upon....that is inside and outside the church....we are all human and have our imperfections and ideas on how money is to be spent...and they may not match one another...
Of course, nothing is more important than salvation that is given freely....then comes discipleship and learning....
Money is talked about so much in the Bible....how we handle it, idolize it, waste it, love it, give it, hide it, search for it, the provision of it.....it wasn't a forbidden topic...
It is a worthy topic to learn about and ponder in today's world....
Thank YOU for the provision, great or small...You do provide, teach, abundantly so that we can have to blessing of giving as well....
1 Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.
Matthew 20:15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
2 Corinthians 9:6-7
[ Generosity Encouraged ] Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Malachi 3:8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings.
Psalm 112:9 They have freely scattered their gifts to the poor, their righteousness endures forever; their horn will be lifted high in honor.
Proverbs 11:24 One person gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.
Crown.org
Daveramsey.com
Friday, October 17, 2014
The bucket list.....find the joy in your life....
The bucket list.....find the joy in your life....
In 2007, a movie came out, "the Bucket list". My husband and I, not big movie goers, decided to go...we enjoyed it, laughing at the amusing parts, crying at the tear- jerking parts, but mostly it created many talking points...as we were looking at what we wanted to do on our "bucket list".....where did we want to travel, what ministries did we want to do....retirement may be approaching....less work, maybe...we had been to China, Mongolia, ....we wanted to travel some more ...where?....what did we want to do with our retirement years....my parents were requiring more care and watchfulness...
Little did we know at the time, my mother would pass away within two years, his business would change drastically within three, cancer would fatally strike him....the bucket list, forgotten, lay mostly untouched....some things checked off and enjoyed...others, unimportant, in the time we had....
I watched that movie again last night, a whole new perspective....time in short, what is important, what "needs" to be done are all so different now....with both parents gone, a widow, that bucket list is sooooo very different...I laughed again, and then the tears came....for those undone lists, those unmet dreams, those lost to me here....
The phrase I passed over before..."find the joy in your life" resonates over and over...my children are my joy, my relationship with Christ is my joy....not just the doing of things....seeing of sights....oh, I do enjoy the things, the sights, the doing...but they are temporal, not eternal....
What does God have on my bucket list??? What do I need to do....be...that is the question now...two and a half years out from the passing of my husband?
Thank YOU that You have a "bucket list" for each of us...prepared...
Psalm 51:12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Nehemiah 8:10
Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Psalm 5:11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
Psalm 16:11 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.
Jesus calling. October 16
Look to Me continually for help, comfort, and companionship. Because I am always by your side, the briefest glance can connect you with Me. When you look to Me for help, it flows freely from My Presence. This recognition of your need for Me, in small matters as well as in large ones, keeps you spiritually alive.
When you need comfort, I love to enfold you in My arms. I enable you not only to feel comforted but also to be a channel through whom I comfort others. Thus you are doubly blessed, because a living channel absorbs some of whatever flows through it.
My constant Companionship is the pièce de résistance: the summit of salvation blessings. No matter what losses you experience in your life, no one can take away this glorious gift.
I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.
—Psalm 34:4–6
Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.
—Psalm 105:4
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 have received from God.
—2 Corinthians 1:3–4
"The Time Is Short
Daily Devotional for October 17
From the Writings of Ray Stedman
From your friends at
www.RayStedman.org
Read the Scripture: 1 Corinthians 7:25-40
What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away. 1 Corinthians 7:29-31
All that Paul says here hangs the words the time is short. Some say this is a reference to the Second Coming of Christ — that Paul expected the Lord to return. It is true that he did look forward to that event occurring in his lifetime, but I view this as a reference to the general brevity of life. The longer we live the more we are aware of how time seems to fly. As someone has said, About the time your face clears up, your mind begins to go. This is the way life seems to be.
But it does not take a Christian to see that; non-Christians can as well. They speak of the shortness of time and their reactions to it is, Well, if we've only got this short a time, then let's grab all we can get of it. Let's live life with gusto. There is nothing beyond, and therefore we've got to get all we can. Their philosophy seems to be: If you are going to he a passenger on the Titanic you might as well go first class. Live it up. Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we shall die. But that is not to be the philosophy of the Christian, as Paul brings out.
Clearly the Christian reaction is: Use this short time for eternal purposes. Be sure that the aim and center of your life is not just making a living, but making a life. That is what he is saying, and that is why he says, let those who have wives live as though they had none. He is not encouraging you to neglect your wife and not fulfill your responsibilities to your children and your home. What he is saying is that we are to keep things in proper focus. Do not let maintaining your home be the major reason for your existence. Do not give all your time to enjoying this present life. There are higher demands and higher challenges to life than that.
Therefore, even marriage, God-given and beautiful as it is, is not the highest choice an individual can make. If some people here choose not to get married so that they might pursue other standards, especially spiritual dimensions of involvement, then they should be affirmed for that. They are making a choice that is right and good and proper and no one should put them down because of it. So his word to us is, Do not let all these things the world around lives for become the center of your life. Joys and sorrows are going to be seen quite differently from the viewpoint of eternity. Success in business is not the greatest aim of life, for all in the world is passing away, even its fame and its glory.
I was in Norfolk, Virginia, and visited the tomb of General Douglas MacArthur. I was interested because I had been an admirer of General MacArthur, having lived during that era when he was the great American hero. I remembered the welcome he received in San Francisco when he finally returned to these shores after World War II, and the ticker tape parades he received both there and in New York. I saw the cabinets with his medals and his memorabilia, the letters he had written at various stages of his life, and some of the uniforms he had worn. They were all gathering dust, and the paint was beginning to peel from the ceiling. As I wandered around I suddenly had a deep sense of the fading glory of earth. I began to compare it with what the Scriptures say is awaiting the believer in Jesus Christ: that, exceeding weight of glory ( 2 Corinthians 4:17) which Paul says is beyond all comparison which is waiting. It is something so fantastic, so mind-blowing, so unbelievable that nothing we know of on earth can remotely be compared to what's waiting for those who have found God's purposes and realized God's fullness in this life. How tawdry all this seemed to me in this tomb: How the glory of MacArthur was as nothing compared with the glory of the simplest believer in Christ. How important therefore it is to pursue that kind of glory rather than the empty baubles that would gather dust in the museums of the world. This is what Paul is talking about here — this world in its present form is passing away.
Thank you, Father, for the hope I have in you, and that nothing in this short life can compare with what you have in store for me. Help me live, not for those things that are passing away, but for those things that will last for all eternity.
Life Application: Whether brief or longer, time is given us by God with a view to eternity. Are we investing this priceless gift in the tawdry and perishable things of earth, or in the timeless, imperishable and invaluable purposes of God's good and perfect will?"
In 2007, a movie came out, "the Bucket list". My husband and I, not big movie goers, decided to go...we enjoyed it, laughing at the amusing parts, crying at the tear- jerking parts, but mostly it created many talking points...as we were looking at what we wanted to do on our "bucket list".....where did we want to travel, what ministries did we want to do....retirement may be approaching....less work, maybe...we had been to China, Mongolia, ....we wanted to travel some more ...where?....what did we want to do with our retirement years....my parents were requiring more care and watchfulness...
Little did we know at the time, my mother would pass away within two years, his business would change drastically within three, cancer would fatally strike him....the bucket list, forgotten, lay mostly untouched....some things checked off and enjoyed...others, unimportant, in the time we had....
I watched that movie again last night, a whole new perspective....time in short, what is important, what "needs" to be done are all so different now....with both parents gone, a widow, that bucket list is sooooo very different...I laughed again, and then the tears came....for those undone lists, those unmet dreams, those lost to me here....
The phrase I passed over before..."find the joy in your life" resonates over and over...my children are my joy, my relationship with Christ is my joy....not just the doing of things....seeing of sights....oh, I do enjoy the things, the sights, the doing...but they are temporal, not eternal....
What does God have on my bucket list??? What do I need to do....be...that is the question now...two and a half years out from the passing of my husband?
Thank YOU that You have a "bucket list" for each of us...prepared...
Psalm 51:12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Nehemiah 8:10
Nehemiah said, “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
Psalm 5:11 But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.
Psalm 16:11 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.
Jesus calling. October 16
Look to Me continually for help, comfort, and companionship. Because I am always by your side, the briefest glance can connect you with Me. When you look to Me for help, it flows freely from My Presence. This recognition of your need for Me, in small matters as well as in large ones, keeps you spiritually alive.
When you need comfort, I love to enfold you in My arms. I enable you not only to feel comforted but also to be a channel through whom I comfort others. Thus you are doubly blessed, because a living channel absorbs some of whatever flows through it.
My constant Companionship is the pièce de résistance: the summit of salvation blessings. No matter what losses you experience in your life, no one can take away this glorious gift.
I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.
—Psalm 34:4–6
Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.
—Psalm 105:4
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 have received from God.
—2 Corinthians 1:3–4
"The Time Is Short
Daily Devotional for October 17
From the Writings of Ray Stedman
From your friends at
www.RayStedman.org
Read the Scripture: 1 Corinthians 7:25-40
What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they do not; those who mourn, as if they did not; those who are happy, as if they were not; those who buy something, as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away. 1 Corinthians 7:29-31
All that Paul says here hangs the words the time is short. Some say this is a reference to the Second Coming of Christ — that Paul expected the Lord to return. It is true that he did look forward to that event occurring in his lifetime, but I view this as a reference to the general brevity of life. The longer we live the more we are aware of how time seems to fly. As someone has said, About the time your face clears up, your mind begins to go. This is the way life seems to be.
But it does not take a Christian to see that; non-Christians can as well. They speak of the shortness of time and their reactions to it is, Well, if we've only got this short a time, then let's grab all we can get of it. Let's live life with gusto. There is nothing beyond, and therefore we've got to get all we can. Their philosophy seems to be: If you are going to he a passenger on the Titanic you might as well go first class. Live it up. Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we shall die. But that is not to be the philosophy of the Christian, as Paul brings out.
Clearly the Christian reaction is: Use this short time for eternal purposes. Be sure that the aim and center of your life is not just making a living, but making a life. That is what he is saying, and that is why he says, let those who have wives live as though they had none. He is not encouraging you to neglect your wife and not fulfill your responsibilities to your children and your home. What he is saying is that we are to keep things in proper focus. Do not let maintaining your home be the major reason for your existence. Do not give all your time to enjoying this present life. There are higher demands and higher challenges to life than that.
Therefore, even marriage, God-given and beautiful as it is, is not the highest choice an individual can make. If some people here choose not to get married so that they might pursue other standards, especially spiritual dimensions of involvement, then they should be affirmed for that. They are making a choice that is right and good and proper and no one should put them down because of it. So his word to us is, Do not let all these things the world around lives for become the center of your life. Joys and sorrows are going to be seen quite differently from the viewpoint of eternity. Success in business is not the greatest aim of life, for all in the world is passing away, even its fame and its glory.
I was in Norfolk, Virginia, and visited the tomb of General Douglas MacArthur. I was interested because I had been an admirer of General MacArthur, having lived during that era when he was the great American hero. I remembered the welcome he received in San Francisco when he finally returned to these shores after World War II, and the ticker tape parades he received both there and in New York. I saw the cabinets with his medals and his memorabilia, the letters he had written at various stages of his life, and some of the uniforms he had worn. They were all gathering dust, and the paint was beginning to peel from the ceiling. As I wandered around I suddenly had a deep sense of the fading glory of earth. I began to compare it with what the Scriptures say is awaiting the believer in Jesus Christ: that, exceeding weight of glory ( 2 Corinthians 4:17) which Paul says is beyond all comparison which is waiting. It is something so fantastic, so mind-blowing, so unbelievable that nothing we know of on earth can remotely be compared to what's waiting for those who have found God's purposes and realized God's fullness in this life. How tawdry all this seemed to me in this tomb: How the glory of MacArthur was as nothing compared with the glory of the simplest believer in Christ. How important therefore it is to pursue that kind of glory rather than the empty baubles that would gather dust in the museums of the world. This is what Paul is talking about here — this world in its present form is passing away.
Thank you, Father, for the hope I have in you, and that nothing in this short life can compare with what you have in store for me. Help me live, not for those things that are passing away, but for those things that will last for all eternity.
Life Application: Whether brief or longer, time is given us by God with a view to eternity. Are we investing this priceless gift in the tawdry and perishable things of earth, or in the timeless, imperishable and invaluable purposes of God's good and perfect will?"
Thursday, October 16, 2014
A defining moment....
A defining moment.....
I am listening to a book about a young woman who finds out she is the illegitimate child of a mining barron after being raised in a loving home all of her life. She is suddenly thrust into a new society with all of its rules and expectations, true or false...she has to come the question..."who or what really defines her"...
It is a question we all have to answer at some period of time...who or what defines me.....
Does our vocation define us, our color, our culture, our society standing, our pain, our martial status, our attitudes, our negativity or positivity , our possessions, our __________, etc....who or what defines us..
As believers, we are fruit bearers, children of the day, spiritually gifted, beloved, transformed, saved, bought and paid for, warriors, graced, peacemakers, children of God, brothers/sisters in Christ, adopted, righteous, vessels, temples, created for good works, sowers, heaven bound....and on and on...everything that God has for us...
We are not bound by earthly definitions, class, ....we may have to live in them, but our true freedom comes from the God who created us to be His...no matter what, how or where we live....
Thank YOU for true definitions of what and who we are in YOU....
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 New International Version (NIV)
The Day of the Lord
5 Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5 You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
Ephesians 1:5
he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—
1 Peter 2:9
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.
2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
1 Peter 1:7 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.
1 Peter 2:5
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.
Romans 3:22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,...
Ephesians 5 New International Version (NIV)
5 1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Ephesians 6:10-17
The Armor of God
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
And on and on....
I am listening to a book about a young woman who finds out she is the illegitimate child of a mining barron after being raised in a loving home all of her life. She is suddenly thrust into a new society with all of its rules and expectations, true or false...she has to come the question..."who or what really defines her"...
It is a question we all have to answer at some period of time...who or what defines me.....
Does our vocation define us, our color, our culture, our society standing, our pain, our martial status, our attitudes, our negativity or positivity , our possessions, our __________, etc....who or what defines us..
As believers, we are fruit bearers, children of the day, spiritually gifted, beloved, transformed, saved, bought and paid for, warriors, graced, peacemakers, children of God, brothers/sisters in Christ, adopted, righteous, vessels, temples, created for good works, sowers, heaven bound....and on and on...everything that God has for us...
We are not bound by earthly definitions, class, ....we may have to live in them, but our true freedom comes from the God who created us to be His...no matter what, how or where we live....
Thank YOU for true definitions of what and who we are in YOU....
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 New International Version (NIV)
The Day of the Lord
5 Now, brothers and sisters, about times and dates we do not need to write to you, 2 for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 3 While people are saying, “Peace and safety,” destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.
4 But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. 5 You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. 6 So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. 8 But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. 9 For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. 10 He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
Ephesians 1:5
he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—
1 Peter 2:9
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.
2 Corinthians 3:18 And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
1 Peter 1:7 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.
1 Peter 2:5
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.
Romans 3:22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,...
Ephesians 5 New International Version (NIV)
5 1 Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children 2 and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Ephesians 6:10-17
The Armor of God
10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
And on and on....
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Fall rains....
Fall rains....
The weather changed this week....from the warm days came a slight breeze, turning into windy days, blowing the some of fall leaves off of their branches, baring the trees into barren twigs lifting their arms to the sky....then the light rain came softly readying the earth for the fall....the beautiful colored leaves littering the ground.....time to do those fall garden clean up projects.....it will either go into more fall weather or turn into winter.....depends on what The Lord has decided....
I worked in the yard yesterday, trimming, spreading out new bark, cutting down bushes, cutting back all of the spent lilies, filling a garbage can with cuttings, limbs, grass....not leaves yet, still more to fall...then came into the house and soaked in a hot tub of water...as the rain started to fall softly.....
This fall has been so nice...mild days with a touch of briskness in the mornings...each day a blessing....even with people ....coming off of a busy summer, settling into fall, busy still, but replenished from harvest of time in the summer....readying for the winter months....the faithfulness of The Lord, thankfulness for each new day...joy....the harvest.....new Bible studies, fall activities in their season....
Thank YOU that you have given us the seasons, each to enjoy...that You are faithful, providing rain to replenish....Your kindness to our hearts....in preparation for the winter months that lie ahead...Your harvest of righteousness, Your words settling Into our hearts for the coming days....help me to store them up.....remembering Your care, provision.....in its season....
Deuteronomy 11:13-15New International Version (NIV)
13 So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— 14 then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. 15 I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.
Deuteronomy 32:2 Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants.
Job 5:10 He provides rain for the earth; he sends water on the countryside.
Joel 2:23 Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given you the autumn rains because he is faithful. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.
Acts 14:17 Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”
James 5:7 [ 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.
The weather changed this week....from the warm days came a slight breeze, turning into windy days, blowing the some of fall leaves off of their branches, baring the trees into barren twigs lifting their arms to the sky....then the light rain came softly readying the earth for the fall....the beautiful colored leaves littering the ground.....time to do those fall garden clean up projects.....it will either go into more fall weather or turn into winter.....depends on what The Lord has decided....
I worked in the yard yesterday, trimming, spreading out new bark, cutting down bushes, cutting back all of the spent lilies, filling a garbage can with cuttings, limbs, grass....not leaves yet, still more to fall...then came into the house and soaked in a hot tub of water...as the rain started to fall softly.....
This fall has been so nice...mild days with a touch of briskness in the mornings...each day a blessing....even with people ....coming off of a busy summer, settling into fall, busy still, but replenished from harvest of time in the summer....readying for the winter months....the faithfulness of The Lord, thankfulness for each new day...joy....the harvest.....new Bible studies, fall activities in their season....
Thank YOU that you have given us the seasons, each to enjoy...that You are faithful, providing rain to replenish....Your kindness to our hearts....in preparation for the winter months that lie ahead...Your harvest of righteousness, Your words settling Into our hearts for the coming days....help me to store them up.....remembering Your care, provision.....in its season....
Deuteronomy 11:13-15New International Version (NIV)
13 So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— 14 then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. 15 I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.
Deuteronomy 32:2 Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants.
Job 5:10 He provides rain for the earth; he sends water on the countryside.
Joel 2:23 Be glad, people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given you the autumn rains because he is faithful. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.
Acts 14:17 Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”
James 5:7 [ 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.
Tuesday, October 14, 2014
An interesting article....
An interesting article.....
I found the following article buried in the news the other day.....I am not trying to be political or whatever, it just tweaked my interest .....there is so much going on In the world...evil, good..the on-going battle...I don't know if it is getting worse or that we can hear about it instantaneously.... But it is real with real people and ideologies...clashing louder and louder....it is a breath of fresh air to hear about the good things that may be happening as well...and then to have those good things questioned instead of the bad seems ludicrous....
If we are closing in on the end times, so much will happen and good things will be in question...
2 Timothy 4:3-5New International Version (NIV)
3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
Matthew 24 New International Version (NIV)
The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times
24 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’[a] spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.
22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.
26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
29 “Immediately after the distress of those days
“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’[b]
30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth[c] will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.[d] 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it[e] is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
The Day and Hour Unknown
36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,[f] but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Galatians 5:22-23 [Full Chapter]
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Thank YOU for encouraging words, the fruit of the Spirit exhibited in people's lives, Your works, love shown through so many even in the hardest of times ....
"Why do so many liberals despise Christianity? Liberals increasingly want to enforce a comprehensive, uniformly secular vision of the human good. And they see alternative visions of the good as increasingly intolerable. By Damon Linker
Many of the health care workers assisting Ebola patients are missionaries. So what? (REUTERS/Jo Dunlop/UNICEF/Handout via Reuters)
Liberalism seems to have an irrational animus against Christianity. Consider these two stories highlighted in the last week by conservative Christian blogger Rod Dreher.
Item 1: In a widely discussed essay in Slate, author Brian Palmer writes about the prevalence of missionary doctors and nurses in Africa and their crucial role in treating those suffering from Ebola. Palmer tries to be fair-minded, but he nonetheless expresses "ambivalence," "suspicion," and "visceral discomfort" about the fact that these men and women are motivated to make "long-term commitments to address the health problems of poor Africans," to "risk their lives," and to accept poor compensation (and sometimes none at all) because of their Christian faith.
The question is why he considers this a problem.
Palmer mentions a lack of data and an absence of regulatory oversight. But he's honest enough to admit that these aren't the real reasons for his concern. The real reason is that he doesn't believe that missionaries are capable "of separating their religious work from their medical work," even when they vow not to proselytize their patients. And that, in his view, is unacceptable — apparently because he's an atheist and religion creeps him out. As he puts it, rather wanly, "It's great that these people are doing God's work, but do they have to talk about Him so much?"
That overriding distaste for religion leads Palmer to propose a radical corollary to the classical liberal ideal of a separation between church and state — one that goes far beyond politics, narrowly construed. Palmer thinks it's necessary to uphold a separation of "religion and health care."
Item 2: Gordon College, a small Christian school north of Boston, is facing the possibility of having its accreditation revoked by the higher education commission of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, according to an article in the Boston Business Journal. Since accreditation determines a school's eligibility to participate in federal and state financial aid programs, and the eligibility of its students to be accepted into graduate programs and to meet requirements for professional licensure, revoking a school's accreditation is a big deal — and can even be a death sentence.
What has Gordon College done to jeopardize its accreditation? It has chosen to enforce a "life and conduct statement" that forbids "homosexual practice" on campus.
Now, one could imagine a situation in which such a statement might legitimately run afoul of an accreditation board or even anti-discrimination statutes and regulations — if, for example, it stated that being gay is a sign of innate depravity and that students who feel same-sex attraction should be subject to punishment for having such desires.
But that isn't the case here. At all. In accordance with traditional Christian teaching, Gordon College bans all sexual relationships outside of marriage, gay or straight, and it goes out of its way to say that its structures against homosexual acts apply only to behavior and not to same-sex desires or orientation.
The accreditation board is not so much objecting to the college's treatment of gays as it is rejecting the legitimacy of its devoutly Christian sexual beliefs.
The anti-missionary article and the story of Gordon College's troubles are both examples (among many others) of contemporary liberalism's irrational animus against religion in general and traditional forms of Christianity in particular.
My use of the term "irrational animus" isn't arbitrary. The Supreme Court has made "irrational animus" a cornerstone of its jurisprudence on gay rights. A law cannot stand if it can be shown to be motivated by rationally unjustifiable hostility to homosexuals, and on several occasions the court has declared that traditional religious objections to homosexuality are reducible to just such a motive.
But the urge to eliminate Christianity's influence on and legacy within our world can be its own form of irrational animus. The problem is not just the cavalier dismissal of people's long-established beliefs and the ways of life and traditions based on them. The problem is also the dogmatic denial of the beauty and wisdom contained within those beliefs, ways of life, and traditions. (You know, the kind of thing that leads a doctor to risk his life and forego a comfortable stateside livelihood in favor of treating deadly illness in dangerous, impoverished African cities and villages, all out of a love for Jesus Christ.)
Contemporary liberals increasingly think and talk like a class of self-satisfied commissars enforcing a comprehensive, uniformly secular vision of the human good. The idea that someone, somewhere might devote her life to an alternative vision of the good — one that clashes in some respects with liberalism's moral creed — is increasingly intolerable.
That is a betrayal of what's best in the liberal tradition.
Liberals should be pleased and express gratitude when people do good deeds, whether or not those deeds are motivated by faith. They should also be content to give voluntary associations (like religious colleges) wide latitude to orient themselves to visions of the human good rooted in traditions and experiences that transcend liberal modernity — provided they don't clash in a fundamental way with liberal ideals and institutions.
In the end, what we're seeing is an effort to greatly expand the list of beliefs, traditions, and ways of life that fundamentally clash with liberalism. That is an effort that no genuine liberal should want to succeed.
What happened to a liberalism of skepticism, modesty, humility, and openness to conflicting notions of the highest good? What happened to a liberalism of pluralism that recognizes that when people are allowed to search for truth in freedom, they are liable to seek and find it in a multitude of values, beliefs, and traditions? What happened to a liberalism that sees this diversity as one of the finest flowers of a free society rather than a threat to the liberal democratic order?
I don't have answers to these questions — and frankly, not a lot hinges on figuring out how we got here. What matters is that we acknowledge that something in the liberal mind has changed, and that we act to recover what has been lost."
I found the following article buried in the news the other day.....I am not trying to be political or whatever, it just tweaked my interest .....there is so much going on In the world...evil, good..the on-going battle...I don't know if it is getting worse or that we can hear about it instantaneously.... But it is real with real people and ideologies...clashing louder and louder....it is a breath of fresh air to hear about the good things that may be happening as well...and then to have those good things questioned instead of the bad seems ludicrous....
If we are closing in on the end times, so much will happen and good things will be in question...
2 Timothy 4:3-5New International Version (NIV)
3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.
Matthew 24 New International Version (NIV)
The Destruction of the Temple and Signs of the End Times
24 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. “Tell us,” they said, “when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
4 Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains.
9 “Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.
15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’[a] spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand— 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again.
22 “If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.
26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
29 “Immediately after the distress of those days
“‘the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light;
the stars will fall from the sky,
and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.’[b]
30 “Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth[c] will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory.[d] 31 And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.
32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it[e] is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
The Day and Hour Unknown
36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,[f] but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Galatians 5:22-23 [Full Chapter]
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Thank YOU for encouraging words, the fruit of the Spirit exhibited in people's lives, Your works, love shown through so many even in the hardest of times ....
"Why do so many liberals despise Christianity? Liberals increasingly want to enforce a comprehensive, uniformly secular vision of the human good. And they see alternative visions of the good as increasingly intolerable. By Damon Linker
Many of the health care workers assisting Ebola patients are missionaries. So what? (REUTERS/Jo Dunlop/UNICEF/Handout via Reuters)
Liberalism seems to have an irrational animus against Christianity. Consider these two stories highlighted in the last week by conservative Christian blogger Rod Dreher.
Item 1: In a widely discussed essay in Slate, author Brian Palmer writes about the prevalence of missionary doctors and nurses in Africa and their crucial role in treating those suffering from Ebola. Palmer tries to be fair-minded, but he nonetheless expresses "ambivalence," "suspicion," and "visceral discomfort" about the fact that these men and women are motivated to make "long-term commitments to address the health problems of poor Africans," to "risk their lives," and to accept poor compensation (and sometimes none at all) because of their Christian faith.
The question is why he considers this a problem.
Palmer mentions a lack of data and an absence of regulatory oversight. But he's honest enough to admit that these aren't the real reasons for his concern. The real reason is that he doesn't believe that missionaries are capable "of separating their religious work from their medical work," even when they vow not to proselytize their patients. And that, in his view, is unacceptable — apparently because he's an atheist and religion creeps him out. As he puts it, rather wanly, "It's great that these people are doing God's work, but do they have to talk about Him so much?"
That overriding distaste for religion leads Palmer to propose a radical corollary to the classical liberal ideal of a separation between church and state — one that goes far beyond politics, narrowly construed. Palmer thinks it's necessary to uphold a separation of "religion and health care."
Item 2: Gordon College, a small Christian school north of Boston, is facing the possibility of having its accreditation revoked by the higher education commission of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, according to an article in the Boston Business Journal. Since accreditation determines a school's eligibility to participate in federal and state financial aid programs, and the eligibility of its students to be accepted into graduate programs and to meet requirements for professional licensure, revoking a school's accreditation is a big deal — and can even be a death sentence.
What has Gordon College done to jeopardize its accreditation? It has chosen to enforce a "life and conduct statement" that forbids "homosexual practice" on campus.
Now, one could imagine a situation in which such a statement might legitimately run afoul of an accreditation board or even anti-discrimination statutes and regulations — if, for example, it stated that being gay is a sign of innate depravity and that students who feel same-sex attraction should be subject to punishment for having such desires.
But that isn't the case here. At all. In accordance with traditional Christian teaching, Gordon College bans all sexual relationships outside of marriage, gay or straight, and it goes out of its way to say that its structures against homosexual acts apply only to behavior and not to same-sex desires or orientation.
The accreditation board is not so much objecting to the college's treatment of gays as it is rejecting the legitimacy of its devoutly Christian sexual beliefs.
The anti-missionary article and the story of Gordon College's troubles are both examples (among many others) of contemporary liberalism's irrational animus against religion in general and traditional forms of Christianity in particular.
My use of the term "irrational animus" isn't arbitrary. The Supreme Court has made "irrational animus" a cornerstone of its jurisprudence on gay rights. A law cannot stand if it can be shown to be motivated by rationally unjustifiable hostility to homosexuals, and on several occasions the court has declared that traditional religious objections to homosexuality are reducible to just such a motive.
But the urge to eliminate Christianity's influence on and legacy within our world can be its own form of irrational animus. The problem is not just the cavalier dismissal of people's long-established beliefs and the ways of life and traditions based on them. The problem is also the dogmatic denial of the beauty and wisdom contained within those beliefs, ways of life, and traditions. (You know, the kind of thing that leads a doctor to risk his life and forego a comfortable stateside livelihood in favor of treating deadly illness in dangerous, impoverished African cities and villages, all out of a love for Jesus Christ.)
Contemporary liberals increasingly think and talk like a class of self-satisfied commissars enforcing a comprehensive, uniformly secular vision of the human good. The idea that someone, somewhere might devote her life to an alternative vision of the good — one that clashes in some respects with liberalism's moral creed — is increasingly intolerable.
That is a betrayal of what's best in the liberal tradition.
Liberals should be pleased and express gratitude when people do good deeds, whether or not those deeds are motivated by faith. They should also be content to give voluntary associations (like religious colleges) wide latitude to orient themselves to visions of the human good rooted in traditions and experiences that transcend liberal modernity — provided they don't clash in a fundamental way with liberal ideals and institutions.
In the end, what we're seeing is an effort to greatly expand the list of beliefs, traditions, and ways of life that fundamentally clash with liberalism. That is an effort that no genuine liberal should want to succeed.
What happened to a liberalism of skepticism, modesty, humility, and openness to conflicting notions of the highest good? What happened to a liberalism of pluralism that recognizes that when people are allowed to search for truth in freedom, they are liable to seek and find it in a multitude of values, beliefs, and traditions? What happened to a liberalism that sees this diversity as one of the finest flowers of a free society rather than a threat to the liberal democratic order?
I don't have answers to these questions — and frankly, not a lot hinges on figuring out how we got here. What matters is that we acknowledge that something in the liberal mind has changed, and that we act to recover what has been lost."
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