Good morning and happy Thursday. I'm not sure who God is talking to today, but I know they will hear this. A few years ago I was going to a meeting in Pueblo Co. and the radio doesn't work out in some parts. So listening to a cd a song came on. "You're Still Here Waiting". Well it's been in my head all night and it's message is today's. It's about how we find ourselves feeling ashamed of what we have done and feel out of the light of God and can't go back to Him. The devil does this to us so we won't. It's an old message, one that's been heard before but it needs to be kept going. We have never walked too far or sinned too much for God not to meet us right where we stand. If we've taken a million steps from where we were before with Him, it only takes one to come Home. Just turn around. Just turn around. JUST TURN AROUND. He has walked with you the whole way and He's standing there waiting right behind you. He doesnt want you to have to walk back down that road again just to get back to Him. As He walked along in His Holiness, the path was made clean. Your past is gone and He's waiting for you to have a new road ahead. The choice is yours and yours alone. So when you begin to make that turn to God, the devil will ring your phone, send you a text, ring the door bell or alert you to a new email. Don't answer it. Go Home. We have found ourselves feeling ashamed of what we've done to hurt our Father. Don't let the devil have that victory in your life. Just turn around and go Home where you belong. You feel it deep inside and you know it's right. Just go Home. Everything will be made right. God can do anything, and He's bought us all with the price of His Son's life. You're not a cheap trinket. You're a valuable jewel, worth the blood of the King of Kings. Do not let anyone tell you different. If you find yourself just a few little steps from where you know you should be. Just pray and go back inside the House. We're all sinners, all of us. None better or worse than the other. It's easy and hard at the same time, depending on where you are to admit our shortcomings but it must be done. You will be stronger and it will be easier and life does get better, not perfect but better. He's still there waiting. In love always. <><

Good morning and happy Wednesday. I just love my little dogs. They are so funny. But what they really are is loyal and loving unconditionally. Think about your relationships over the years, the good and the bad. They've had conditions of some kind. Very few have sustained themselves on the premise of unconditional. Not only do we do this with our friends and family, but we do this with God as well. "Oh God if you can just get me through this I will never do this again". Really? What does it feel like to be giving and loving to someone unconditionally and they don't reciprocate? Well, that's how we must be making God feel. But unlike us, He has a heart of true forgiveness. He forgets about it and does not hold it over you. Oh, the consequences of the choice you made will still be there, that's so you can learn from it, but God will get past it when you give it to Him and let Him. Our past is what we and others hold against each other. With that in mind, knowing my own past, I guess there are plenty of things to hold against me. That's the devils biggest and most powerful weapon against us. The crazy thing is, it's the easiest to defeat. God is God and nothing is more powerful than Him. He wants to fight for us, and does when we let Him. Say that again, when we LET Him. Yes, He's not gonna do anything on your behalf if you're not letting Him into your heart and surrendering your life to Him so that He can take care of you. The world can't see this and doesn't want to. That's why you'll be " persecuted for His name". To that I say, welcome Jesus freak. Unconditional love, so easy a dog can do it. Try it for yourself and see what happens. I dare ya. I double dog dare ya. In love always. <>< 

Good morning and happy Tuesday. What and why don't I hear the voice of God?  I've never heard heard God talk to me. I think people who say they "hear" God talk to them are crazy. How many of you feel that way?  How many of you have heard some of that? Do you have an answer? Yeah, me either really. I know that God speaks to us in many ways. It's when we have that relationship with Him, that we know what it sounds and looks like. Our conscience we hear say "don't do that", God?  Satan? Self?  How well do you know the voice of God? He talks to us all the time. It's not the big flash of light and burning bush with the booming voice either. He wants us in relationship with each other. We've talked about that before, but the relationship with Him is the most important thing we can have. It's everything. Without it we can't hear Him through the Holy Spirit who dwells inside us. In the same way Jesus did not want to be out of the presence of God on the cross that day, is the same way we should be feeling about our closeness to Him. It's a must. It's the very cornerstone of the life He has for us. When we leave our old ways behind us and put on our new creation, we have laid that very stone. The problem is we forget about it has we build this new place in our walk with God. The place we're building becomes our focus. We have to always go back to the core, the cornerstone of our faith in Him. Never forget what really matters and keep it out front, everything else will take care of itself. Lean in close to Him and hear God speak over you. Remember, there is nothing He can't do. Nothing He can't use to reach you right were are. It's never too late and we're never too far. Covet that relationship with Him and never let it go. He has never let you go, and never will. In love always. <>< 

Good morning and happy Thursday. One my favorite songs was on this morning when I woke up, well two actually. Casting Crowns came on twice in a row from the shuffle on my phone. So I really figured God wanted to me hear those. The first one was Glorious Day and the other was In the Middle. Just reaffirming that one day He's coming, Oh glorious day. But am I caught in the middle? The line that hits the most goes along with this weeks little theme. "With eyes wide open to the differences, The God we want and the God He is, but will we trade our dreams for His? Or are we caught in the middle?"  The middle of the road only gets us run over enough to hurt real bad. We're all there too. Swaying around like a drunk driver trying to get home. We're swerving all over the place. How do we hold the line? How do we stay close to Him and in the shadow of His protection? By knowing where it is. We have to live this life and with the dangers that are out there. That's how non believers see Him. They see Him in our daily walk. And if we're walking down the middle and not full on for God then that's what they see and realize they're ok right where they are too. We compromise all the time without really knowing it. People that know you're a Christian following Jesus watch more closely than you think. They want what you have inside but they're scared they don't make the cut. They're sin is too much to over come, so they look for reasons not to come over. Don't be that reason. Like all our mama's have told us, " Get out of the middle the street. You're gonna get run over". Ok, maybe that was just mine because I was in the middle of the street. Some times, most times, our dreams are not His for us. Surrender those dreams to Him. Pull over into the right lane and stay out of the middle of the road. Have the courage to live for Him, because He died for you. In love always. <>< 

Good morning and happy Wednesday. Why is it that Christians use words like weakness, humble, meek, afraid and surrender?  Think about that and let it sink in a minute. Non-Christians see that and think we're just that. It's easy to see how the world can twist things around and make it look like Christianity is crazy. So when you say or hear those words, what do you think? There is so much power in giving up control of our lives to the God who created all things. It means we're not trying to do this. We recognize and acknowledge the presence of God in all we do.  Through Him we have no weakness. Through Him we are stronger than any force on earth. The way the world sees us is not the way or what we need to be worried about. Our focus is to be on God. We are not to be worrying about what this world thinks of us. The more we get wrapped in this worldly way of thinking the farther we get form God. So choose to be all the things the world sees as weak and worthless, our Father in heaven has our back. I believe that's enough said. In love always. <><. 

Good morning and happy Tuesday. Seek God first, in all things. Seek His guidance and direction. Why would anyone ever attempt to do anything without knowing or having the knowledge needed to perform the task? How much more success would we have if we already had the outcome in our hands? How much more then we would we honor God by "knowing" what He was going to do rather than "trusting" Him to lead us where He needs/wants us? What if what we knew was not what we wanted? Would we turn away from God or try to change the will of God to suit our desires? I'm glad that I don't know the next second of my life. It's much easier to trust and have faith in God to what's best than to worry and labor over things we really can't change. Trust and faith in God though is not easy. It is but it isn't. We have to find ourselves on our knees. In our weakest moments we will find great strength and power. It's not our own but that of God's and the the Holy Spirit. I am weak but He is strong. In love always. <>< 

Good morning and happy Monday. We just got home late yesterday from a trip to the mountains. Absolutely gorgeous. I just love being there. But when we got home our little dogs were so happy to see us. There is not a welcome home in the world better than that of the family dog. Our newest one, Sophie, has now been under my feet the whole time. She's letting know I'm not to leave again. There is one welcome home though that is by far untouchable in comparison, "Well done good and faithful servant". Oh to hear those words spoke over us will be amazing. But even now, in this lifetime, we can have a part of that here on earth with us. When we invite Jesus into our hearts to take up residency, then the angels rejoice and sing as we come home to God. If we've been gone a while or a minute makes no difference, we're Home. God welcomes us Home in way we cannot imagine. The plans He has for us pick up where we are and move forward toward that final welcoming. Now along the way will there be bumps and valleys to be gotten through? Yes there will, but we have Christ with us, God with us as the Holy Spirit lives in us. We're never alone and always home, no matter where we are. God is always with us, it's us who's not always with Him. When we return back home it's always a wonderful, never leave again welcome. It's unconditional and it's nonjudgemental as to where you've been. Turn around and go Home. He's waiting with open arms. He misses you more than you'll ever know. In love always. <>< 

Good morning and happy Friday. There is nothing better to me than being in the mountains. Seeing all this beauty and majesty always helps me to remember who put it here. We as humans have done as much as we can to make things and create beautiful things, and we have. But there is nothing we've ever done that comes close to what God has done. Even in the smallest of details He has thought of it all. From tiny little flowers poking up from a crack in a rock to the mountain I'm staring at right now. What a beautiful world. We take it for granted sometimes too. I know I do. How often then do we take Him for granted? How many times do we just pass right on by Him in an effort to do it ourselves? It goes back to letting Him, no asking Him, to be the instrumental part of our lives. When we see things through His eyes we see the real beauty of life. The smile of cute little girl as she looks up at her mom or dad. A bird soaring high above on the winds. Don't you always feel good or just stop and stare at those types of things? It's because we're seeing the real part of the life God has created for us. It always seems like when you leave the bonds of the routine life we live every day, is when you really notice what He has done for us. Be sure and thank Him for all this today. Make sure He's at the center and begin to see the beauty even in our routine lives. In love always. <>< 

Good morning and happy Thursday. When's the last time you asked God to come take your place in something you're going through? What? You can do that? I can't ask the God of the universe to take time out of running everything to deal with little ol' me. Yet, that is exactly what He wants us to do. Do you think the CEO of a huge company is gonna come down to the basement to help you deal with a mail room crisis? Of course not, but that's worldly thinking. We're not of this world. We are children of be Most High God. Now, would you ask your dad to help with a crisis you're dealing with? Absolutely. And we do it all the time, this calling on God for our troubles and on behalf of our friends as well, but do we really understand how willing He is to listen to us and our requests? Do you see your friends post and say a little prayer and call it good? I hope not. It's like calling your friend, yeah calling them, and letting them know of a need you have, for yourself or someone else. He desires our conversation. He desires our time with Him. The amazing thing is what happens to us when we do spend that time with Him. The Israelites couldn't even look at Moses when he came down from the mountain after being with God. Don't go through life's events alone, good or bad. In all things praise Him and give glory to Him. Because really, it's what He wants from us. Imagine all the people listening to the words of God together. What a wonderful world this would be. Spend some time with Him today and everyday. The world needs it. In love always. <>< 

Good morning and happy Tuesday. Humility; the world sees a humble person and assumes weakness and gullibility. Someone who is walked over and pushed around. How do it you see it? "We're 'Mericans, we don't get pushed around. We fight back and don't take nothing off no body". Sound about right with our country's attitude. It's good to a point but only to a point. I heard a man talk about another man in how much he would be missed at his job following his retirement a week or so ago. I know the man and how humble he is in his work and it was good to hear just how much he did for, and will be miss by,the people there. To know him you would not really know this. He's quiet an easy going. So how do we fight off this stigma of weakness? We don't. When we are weak we are strong. I never really understood that song as a kid. I get it now. It's not us when we are humble before The Lord and the world. Jesus is who fights for us. From our knees comes victory because we have chosen to not follow the ideas of this world but to follow the ideal God. Humility is arrived at through growth in our relationship with Christ. Through that relationship, we begin to see more clearly that the things we are fighting for have already been won by Him. We need to merely be willing to serve Him and to serve others. It's time to lower ourselves off the pedestal we put ourselves on and see from a clearer view of the tasks at hand before us. This is what He has called us to do. No praise or glory for us. This is not about us. It's about Him. Lets fight the good fight, for all the right reasons, humbly and faithfully. In love always. <>< 

Good morning and happy Friday. Why is it so hard to open a door?  Or, why is it we won't work as hard to open a door as we will to walk through one that is already open? I know we say that God opens doors for us when one closes. I'm not so sure He opens them for us. I do believe He leads us to them, but there is some work and effort required of us to do our part. Life would be so easy if all the doors He wanted us to go through were already open, but then what kind of Christ follower would we be if it was just that easy? When we make the choice to turn the knob and pull, yank, or just simply open the door, we're saying to God that we believe and have faith in Him to lead and guide us. Far too often we come to those spots and find it too difficult to make that decision and turn around and find an already open door and take the easy way out, just to find ourselves down a road we didn't intend on being on. I wonder how many wonderful blessings we leave behind those closed doors? Ones that would have changed our lives and others in ways we could not imagine. Just a little effort on our part instead of wanting and waiting on God to do it for us. I'm not saying that we do things for ourselves apart from Him to gain favor. Sometimes behind that door may be a little heartache and pain, but if is by God that we are there, it is for the greater good of the whole. I see myself in a hallway with many doors, some opened and some closed. I feel the Holy Spirit leading me to a door that is closed. It's hard to open and I can't find the key. I fall on my knees and ask God for His guidance and wisdom. Humbled before The Lord the door opens. The key to unlocking those doors is our willingness to surrender ourselves before Him. "Well done good and faithful servant. You may enter". Oh what a glorious day. Until then, when the door behind you closes, open the one He's brought you to. Do it with the fullest confidence in Him to be leading you to where He is. In love always. <>< 

Good morning and happy Monday. Many of you know of my love of music. Here's a blast from the past; Foreigner- " I wanna know what love is, I want you to show me. I wanna feel what love is, I know you can show me". Love, the most powerful emotion and feeling known to man. Today it also seems to be the least shown as well. Our Father God is the perfect example of what love is. He showed us love through His son Jesus. We feel His love through the Holy Spirit. He has done this for us for the very reason of filling that void He knew we would find inside ourselves, and that we would try and fill it with something else. Jesus felt all the pain of the cross. He felt all the hatred that was poured out on Him. He felt what we feel sometimes. He became our model of loving someone so much you would lay down your own life for them. I don't know too many parents that would not do that for their children, but would they do it for their neighbors child?  Love from God cannot be explained or felt to its fullest potential, not yet anyway. Would you as a parent, then, give your child to save your neighbor's child ?  God is our Father and He will and has done just that. Here's another oldie from Conway Twitty- " That's my job, that's what I do. Everything I do is because of you, to keep you safe with me. That's my job you see". We sing about it all the time. We long for it our whole lives. But are we giving it and showing it more than we are wanting it?  Go and show what love is. Go and let others feel what love is. That's our job you see. I love always. <>< 

Good morning and happy Wednesday. With all the recent tragedies and loss of loved ones I felt led to share a word God spoke to me on the way home from an old friends funeral in Denton.


The purpose of a life is not easily determined. A newborn who passes away; what was the purpose? Could it be that a person is born and raised and we meet and grow together and bond in a way that is beyond friendship, that their death is their purpose for my life. It happens to us all the time when a loved one or close friend passes away. We change the way we see our life and the way we're gonna live it. It's a huge feeling in the pit of your stomach that says; do it this way from now on. Is that the purpose of the life that has passed? Did God really put into motion a life born, lived and died just for the purpose of changing me at a crucial point? Yes He did. The little baby was born only for a few days before passing and has touched the lives of many people. A grandparent who dies late in their life that as they are dying the family is reflecting on their life and has a changing impact on a lot of lives. When those deaths happen, don't we begin to search for the meaning behind them and then make changes in our own lives. Well it happened a long time ago and it was very deliberate in it's purpose. Jesus was born and lived and died to change our lives. Death of our loved ones and ourselves are simply that again, as a reminder of what's been done for us by God Himself through His son Jesus. Don't let the purpose of a life lived be lost on our own idea of life. Let your life be changed by those who have gone on before us, but especially by the one who went first before us all. That's where all life is pointed to. Jesus' life was to die for us. You are born to die so others may change from your life lived. Not to take away from the actual life itself, changing others as it is lived. But sometimes the only way we see it is when a life is taken. In love always

Good morning and happy Tuesday. I know, it's been a while. How much do you really trust God? How much do really believe He has it all in control?  Then do your actions and behavior show it?  I've watched the sad story of a friend of mine losing his wife to cancer unfold over the last couple of months. It's been a battle for a few years though and I finally met this incredible women whose strength and faith in God has helped to inspire so many. She's the reason I couldn't sleep this morning as I think and pray for Tim, my friend. Together they walked the very questions asked before, and by their actions one could see so easily how much they trust and believe in God to take care of them. We read or hear stories all the time of the faith of someone and their trust in God in a difficult situation, but to see it being lived out firsthand is inspiring beyond words. I have not stopped thinking of you two since walking out of that door that day. I hear someone complaining about this or that and think of you being by her side as you say goodbye to the love of your life. We are such selfish people. We have allowed ourselves to be distanced from our Lord by this world. I saw the peace that only God can give you Tim. To truly know that God is God is how one feels that. Our pains here are insignificant when compared to an eternity with Him. Tears will be shed and hearts will hurt, but it's only for the time we have left here. Sheri will be missed, but her life here will not be forgotten. She is a pillar of what true trust in God really is. If you've never really seen it, your life will be changed when you do. If you have seen or do trust in Him fully, are you living it for others to see so they may be changed by the One you saves us all. Sheri, thank you for your life shared with all of us. Tim, continued peace and comfort brother. In love always. <>< 

Good morning and happy Monday. Just got done reading a few news spot headlines and scanning through FB only to see nothing but bad stuff all over. It's the same all the time and has been for a while. I know that bad things have happened since Cain killed Able, but it really seems to be accelerating more quickly now. I wonder why? ( note sarcasm ). Since the Jews ignored the heeding of God they have been slaves and oppressed and not even a nation until not too long ago. America has been blessed by God since it was founded because it was founded with Him at the head; no matter how "they" try and distort our history. But ever since we have asked Him to leave our schools, offices, government, and lives, things just haven't been the same. I know people can see it but no one seems to be willing to admit it. Even those who don't believe in God know something is wrong and have a million excuses for it. None of which hold water when tested. This country is in need of a revival of its faith in God to deliver it. It has to be done with love for each other and fir those who do not see it this way. Love is all that remains. When Jesus died that was all that was left for us. Complete selfless love for each other. All the hate that these "Christians" pour out is not what Jesus had in mind as the nails were driven through His skin. Westboro and the hate mongers at protest rally's are not what we need. It's time, it's passed time to stand up and show some love to others and bring the purest of love back to our country.  I have lots of friends who do not see it this way, but I love them and I pray for them and I hope that they can see Jesus is real living through me. We're all sinners just the same and all in need of the same grace of God to be saved. No one is above or below another. Together we stand, side by side and together we are all in the same sinking boat of an America that's asked God to leave. So He has, but He's right there with us waiting for us to ask Him back into ours lives, all parts of it. As frustrated as I am getting, it's the peace Jesus brings that's has kept me sane. In love always. <><