Good morning and happy Friday. For reals this time. I didn't even know what day it really was. How could I possibly know the day of His return? But seriously, a lot of good intention Christians spend too much time doing something the Bible never asked them to do; predict the end times. So how does getting your house in order work? How do you prepare for a unexpected guest? Well, this will be the last guest you ever have and He's really not dropping by to visit. He's coming to take you home. You've been living a temporary life here and now it's time to go where you belong. Some will have chosen their own way of living and not see the glory of Heaven. So if Heaven is where you want to go, then being prepared for the return of Christ is living the way He has asked you to. So you can get the yard mowed and the house painted and cleaned up in a weekend and everything will be just fine. But the work has to be done right from the heart. It can't be about "doing" so you "get". It's about doing cause you love Him. Loving Him changes everything. So boil all this down to the last bit. Fall in love with Him and your house is ready for any guest and the trip home. In love always. <><
Good morning and happy Friday. I read an interesting take on the end times yesterday. Understand I'm not about predicting a day. So back to the reading. Do you remember back a ways when people would just drop by and see you? Today it's not proper to just drop by unannounced. I remember being at my grandparents house and people just stopping by. They loved it. And would visit for hours. They would stop what they were doing and visit. Today we don't like it when someone stops by. The drop in visitor. We have too much going on to take the time to visit. Our house isn't tidied up. If I'd known you were coming by I would have cleaned a little. Well, there's a drop in visitor coming and He's not saying when He's stopping by. Is your house in order? Is it tidied up enough to have a visitor stop by? We don't know when it will be but for a fact it will be coming. We need to take more time with the people in our lives and the ones who drop by. I've said it before, be found doing God's work and you won't have to worry how clean the house is when the last visitor you ever have stops by. It could be today. Get the house in order. In love always. <><
Good morning and happy Wednesday. So after further evaluation, how are you doing in your journey to a closer walk with God? Where are you at in all of it? It's questions like these that I have to ask myself when I feel like things are getting a little off track. I also found I didn't and don't have the answers to them. I like to know the answer to everything, how it works, why it does what it does and so forth. So I have a big dilemma when it comes to God, I will never know everything of Him til I get there. Faith in what He is doing in my life is a tough walk because of that. Sounds simple,but trying asking someone with a touch of OCD to not not count the tiles on the ceiling. (1449 in the life center in case you wanted to know). So each of us has a struggle with it but don't always realize it because we've made our trust and faith in God a thing instead our lives. Life isn't a bed of roses but it is sweet when they bloom, and you can't smell them while you work the soil and clean out the weeds and water them. So life has a little work to it and we have to put in the time, but it's worth every bit of it. I have faith in that. Be Jesus to the rose bushes around you today. In love always. <><
Good morning and happy Tuesday. It seems this morning that silence may be the theme for the day. With that it simply reminds me to "Be still and know that I am God". We talk a lot about how busy we are and get, and I think that's what I'm hearing Him say today is to simply step back from all this. Make time for Him. Keep it simple and let it be from the heart. He's a demanding God but only for our own good. He knows what that can, and will do for us if we simply become simple. Turn loose of the stuff holding you back today and come to Him and visit. Once we begin to make the time for Him, the more we will do it. It's just to powerful and filling not to come back again for more. Just because we feel like we're in a good place doesn't make it so. He is the good place. I'll be quiet now. Find Him in your day today. Spend time with Him today. In love always. <><
Good morning and happy Monday. So who needs God ? He's got it all handled and planned out and our lives are really just a series of events He's planned already. No need to pray or go to Him for forgiveness, He already knows everything you're gonna do right? And if you do pray He already knows what you're gonna say and the answer to it has been planned for centuries, right? Can we limit the power of God any more than that? God changes His mind, He's God. He moves through time and space at will and can change anything up that He has planned for us based on our right and wrong decision. How intimate is that considering there are 7 billion bone heads on this planet. Now that's awesome, that's powerful. I'm not saying God doesn't know everything, but I think when we decide something on our own outside of His plan, He goes to work lining things back up to direct us back to Him. To think He has planned a life to go straight to hell, cause some will go there, is absurd. God is so awesome and so involved in the details of our lives that He is there with you all the time. He's not absent and vacant because it's been "planned" out for you. He wants your input too. He wants this to be together. He wants a life lived by making the choices He's groomed you to make from the relationship you've formed over the years. He's alive and very much still at work in your life today. Thank you God for the chance to change course and come Home. In love always. <><
Good morning and happy Friday. I love music. I love to sing and wish I could better. But I really connect with songs sometimes. It's funny to me now to think about the song in my head that I haven't heard in long time. So I know God has placed it there for me today. It's Casting Crowns "Lifesong". So am I living my life that I could have Jesus sign off on at the end of the day knowing my heart was true? That's a tough question. But it's the one for today. What am I allowing to invade my heart and my thoughts that makes me not want Him to know that He already knows? When we can allow ourselves to escape this world and live in it while filtering everything through Him, we'd have it made. But we don't do that. We try and try, and that's good but really getting to the core of it all is the key. That's done by going to Him on our knees and talking about it. He is the only one who can save us from whatever is holding us back from the life He's planned for us. Bow before the King and come to Him broken and humbled and ready to be molded. It's gonna hurt a little, but not like what Jesus went through for us to be able to even approach the throne. A small price to pay for all we've been seeking. While we see ourselves as a mess, He sees a work in progress that's to be a beautiful piece of pottery, useful and needed in His kingdom. Live each day so that you can go to Him at the end of it and let Him sign it in the crimson blood spilled for us. Let your Lifesong sing. In love always. <><
Good morning and happy Thursday. Why do you believe in God? Have you really thought about it? Is it just because you were brought up to? Really think about it. I have and I'm still not sure. The Native American knew there was something more then them here. All sorts of cultures had gods of some kind because they knew there was more to this life than this. Well we all have a hole to fill and know that there is really something we were made for and to do. God has been where we found that filling. The amazing thing for me has been how I realize that I've needed this my whole life. That it's exactly what it says it is. God is, was and will be everything to me. And while my stupid self walked around "knowing" everything, God, who I didn't even really know, was right there with me the whole time. He's never left my side, ever. For as much as I rejected Him, He dug in closer to me. Now, I can't live without Him. I know who and what He is and I have no real idea of how it came to be. I'm just thankful that along the way I was introduced to Him at least and came to Him when I did. It simply took this long for the planted seed to start being a plant. Plant some seeds with your life today. In love always. <><
Good morning and happy Wednesday. Why do you think Peter wanted to come out of the boat and walk on the water? Do you think he was testing or verifying who he was seeing out on the water? I propose another slant. Maybe he just wanted to be like his Lord. He had seen all the things He had been doing. He knew His voice and when he heard Him speak out on the water he wanted to go to Him. Although they were fishermen, they really didn't like the water. This is a huge deal to get out of a perfectly good boat and go out onto water he knows he can't and has never walked on before. He does know however that if it is done with the help of Jesus, then it is possible. To apply that to today is very simple; trust God for who He is and move to Him and His will when He speaks to you or moves you. Once in motion, don't stop looking at Him and begin to doubt that you really are doing this. I wonder what the others in the boat were thinking as they saw Peter walking on water. Keep your eyes on the Lord and the plan He has for you and people will see you doing amazing things too. In love always. <><
Good morning and happy Tuesday. Oh my goodness I got to sleep in today and I feel so good and rested. It makes me think about the rest God offers us. There is so much in this world today that occupies our time and keeps us busy and away from spending time with God. Before all this technology there was more time for a lot of things; family, friends and God. Think about your grandparents and the stories they tell about their time. Sure it had its own problems too, but the most important things in life were always first. Now, those things have slipped down our priority list of importance. It's funny how we think we are doing so much better than the generation before us. As we grow older and "wiser" we begin to see the error of our ways. God offers us the rest we seek from this busy world we've created with the help of Satan himself. So if he's helping us in our demise and is in opposition of God, and if we are seeking peace and rest, then God is where it is found. My grandparents have such an ease about God. They know Him better than me. We have to try and get ourselves to that place. This world is temporary, and we have placed too much value on it. Our intent should be on our eternal life and where IT will be spent. This life here only matters for a short time and is not worth all that we put into it. Find the rest from this world in the very loving arms of God. In love always. <><
Good morning and happy Monday. Well as a guy, I'm not supposed to like the sappy love story movies of the guy's in love with a girl who doesn't notice him kinda of thing, but Mall Cop is a great movie. Lol. Just kidding. I do like the hopeless romantic thing because it reminds me of us with God. We can get to a place where it feels like He doesn't notice us at all. That we're not worthy of His love. It breaks my heart to think of people in that place in their lives. It's just not possible to not be loved by Him. That's what makes me always watch those movies. I know how it ends every time, yet I still watch. Why? Because it shows me hope. As humans in this messed up world we lack the ability to have true faith sometimes and have to be shown what we're looking for. It also reminds me of the fact I'm never too far away from His love and for Him to pull me into His arms. And yes I know how all this ends, but just like the movies, it's fun to see how and what happens on the way there. How many people will see us make our way to the love of the prom queen and have hope in their lives for a big change? How many will see our journey from the dark and lost to the light and found? How many lives are changed by that? That's why I like the sappy love stories, because God breathed life into the best love story ever written; the Bible. It's His love for us that shows how much He loves us so that we can be with Him forever. Let love rule the day. In love always. <><
Good morning and happy Friday. You see them all the time. You know some of them or you may be one too, store front Christians. The ones who have the appearance of a Christian, but who's actions and motives are not in line with it. I know a man who has these very traits of the good image of how a Christian looks and acts. An act is all that it is. At the core, is not a compassionate loving and caring for others no matter what person. Is that you? Do you love and care no matter what? I'm not talking about becoming mad at a situation and going off a bit, but that inner side that has other thoughts and motives. Don't be a pretty house on the block with flowers and white fence and then have a rusted car on blocks in the back yard and a filthy house. Looks good to drive by, but you don't want to go inside. Thats how the world sees Christians. That's how some professed Christians are. A true Christian and follower of Jesus flows from the inside out. And to see how this world has become, it's in dire need of true Christians. You see if Jesus really is in your heart, then He will flow out from the inside. Outward pains and things others think about those kind of motives won't matter any more. But it's also the house they will want to go inside of. I hope my house is a little ugly but made beautiful on the inside by the Holy Spirit. Let your light shine out for the world to see. In love always. <><
Good morning and happy Thursday. In the Book of Mark a man named Jarius is begging Jesus to come and help his daughter who is dying. On the way, a woman who was sick, made her way through the crowd to simply to touch His robe. Her faith healed her. This interruption in the trip to the little girl was likely making Jarius mad and impatient. And just as they were about to move on, he gets word his daughter is dead. How would you feel in this moment? If He would have kept going and not stopped He could have healed her. I'm quite sure he was mad and ready to throw his hands up and just give up. "It's too late now, thanks a lot". Bitterness would be settling in too. Jesus remains calm and tells him she is only "asleep". On the way to the house the people are saying to him why bother now, it's too late. The world discouraging him. But he keeps his faith and Jesus takes him and three others with them and tells the little girl to get up. And with the compassion only the Lord has, He has them get her something to eat. A simple thing, but He knew she missed dinner and would be hungry. He just brought her back from death and is concerned about her in the smallest of things. Delayed answers to prayer, because it's in His time. Compassion beyond understanding. Both people being healed and still caring for them in the smallest of details. This is the God we serve. Serve Him well. Wait for Him to do for you. Be doing for him always. It's in His time. In love always. <><
Good morning and happy Wednesday. I'm pretty sure that most people don't wake up and say, " Well today is my last day. I'm dying today". I'm sure Dr. King didn't know he was gonna be shot as he was giving his speech that day. The space shuttle astronauts were pretty sure they would be home later on. Is there anything here on this earth worth losing our souls for? I'm not sure I'll make it home tonight, so when I go, I want to be doing God's work, or at least not tied up in this world and it's root of evil. For a long time people knew the earth was flat, people knew the earth was the center of the universe, just think what we'll know tomorrow. Man does not have the answers. Man is not in control. God has this whole thing and we are a part of it no matter how small and insignificant we may feel. In the small things of your life, be doing it for God. Be about His work always. That way when it's time to go home, your work is done. In love always. <><
Good morning and happy Tuesday. Do any of us realize how temporary this life is? How the things we cling to will all be gone in the blink of an eye. Yet everyday we all do things that effect our eternity and where it will be spent. Jesus spent a good portion of His ministry teaching about just that. That we are clinging to this earthly dwelling instead of our heavenly home. Our minds and actions lead us down roads of temporary satisfaction. All sorts of things come to mind; our diets, work outs, thoughts of the secretary in the office pool. Tons of things we do or ponder are on the very short sighted, temporary place of this earth. We all do it and we all have ways of dealing with it, but the best way is to make everyday as deeply involved with God as possible. As we do that more and more the easier this world slips away and the thought of eternity takes over. We never know how close we are to moment of leaving this world. In love always. <><
Good morning and happy Monday. It was baptism Sunday at church yesterday. A lot of people went public with their faith. It was nice to see hearts being changed and lives headed in a new direction. How long where you wet from your time in the water? In the moment, I felt like it would last forever, but I was about 14 or so and those of you who know my past know it didn't last long. I was dried up and done with the whole mess relatively quick. What happened? I don't believe I was too young. I do believe that there was no one around to help me through the next phases of that change in my life. Too many times people get out of the water and ask, "Now what?". Being there and not letting someone go alone helps them stay wet and keeps your fire burning. God designed us as community people. To be there for each other. To strengthen each other. No isolation or keeping people at an arms length. When your community is all up in your business, you usually keep your business good. Don't be afraid to reach out and don't be afraid to be reached out to. God guides us when we let Him and gives the words to say when we listen. Be an instrument for Him to use in the lives of others. Don't stand by and let another's fire go out. We need each other. In love always. <><
