Good morning and happy Wednesday. Yeah you know what day it is. Anyway, this morning, after a long night at work, I woke up to tragedy. My heart sinking in my stomach and then also a feeling of pure amazement of caring. I had several texts and PM's about the train wreck this morning. First, my brother works in that direction and was actually at work but not involved. Thank you Lord. Prayers though for those who are injured as I know all of them. But on the flip side I was blown away by the number of people who had checked on me, either through me or my wife. It feels good to be cared about. It's humbling to to know that people care. This is what God wants us to do for each other. This is the feeling we should all have all the time, knowing that we are loved. But as said here before, God loves us just like that. Why do we forget or need an event to take place to remind us? I envy those who really get it every day, all the time. That never take it for granted. It's a place in my relationship with God that I am trying so desperately to get to. To feel that love, like what was felt through concern today, is amazing and uplifting. God gives us this all the time. I don't know if it's because we don't trust what we can't see or because we're afraid to surrender to what is right. Either way, there is nothing greater than the love of God. To know how we, as a whole, turn on Him so many times and hurt Him in so many ways and yet He still loves us like we can never love another. I hope and pray that we can get to that point of knowing and accepting His love for what it really is. To be able to bask in His love and wake every day with that feeling of knowing we're loved more than we know. In love always <><

Good morning and happy Tuesday. So to conclude with Jonah. He's prayed that God save him and guide him and basically going along with the plan. So he preaches to the Ninevites and warns them of their ways. Keep in mind Jonah wanted these people eradicated from the earth. He couldn't stand them and thought their behavior and ways should no longer be tolerated. After the sermon, the Ninevites repented and returned to God. So what does ole Jonah do? Celebrate? Jump for joy? No, he goes and pouts outside of town. How many times do we feel like someone deserves one thing and then something really good happens for them instead and we got all miffed over it? Why would a heart full of love feel that way? Hate and love can not abide within the same heart. As we grow closer and more mindful of the ways of God, we should also be pushing our ill feelings of people out as more God comes in. It's a process, but I'm so thankful God is patient with me. But more so I'm thankful He's patient with all of us so that we can all turn back to Him. Jonah should have been so excited for these people who were lost and now returned to God and His ways, but instead he's pouting. A man who had just been in the belly of a fish and knows that God caused and calmed the storm that got him there is still not grateful for what He's done with these people. Thankful and grateful. I'm thankful for a lot of things. I'm grateful for our God's ability to forgive and to show mercy and grace where it is not deserved, because if He didn't, none of us, certainly me, would not make it or even have a chance to make it. Be a willing servant of The Lord. Be a useful and grateful tool, ready and willing to be used by the God of the universe. Even to save the one you like the least. Celebrate the victories won in the name of The Lord every day. In love always. <><

Good morning and happy Monday. Everyone knows the story of Jonah in the whale. I heard a sermon on it yesterday that reminded me of a few things we do today that Jonah was doing then. God told him to do something. Jonah tried to run from God, as if. But think about that for a minute. Jonah tried to run from God. We know today that that is impossible. How close was Jonah with God to believe it possible to do so. How personable was God to Jonah? I think he knows he couldn't, but the fight or flight in him told him he could. They have a close relationship for that thought to be possible. We think we can hide things because we're not close to God and therefore He doesn't enter into the equation. So then Jonah is on a boat going the opposite direction he was told and huge storm threatens to sink it. Jonah knows God has found him and the storm will go away from the ship if they throw him off of it. Have you ever been caught by your parents at that party you shouldn't have been at? If you leave the cops won't be called and you alone can face the punishment for your actions. Jonah is busted and then in only God fashion swallowed up by a whale. Alone for three days and nights he has no hope but one, God. That's the same for us too. And when he's let out of the fish he's on the beach of the very place God was sending him to start with. Why do we force God's will on ourselves instead of surrendering to it? This story of Jonah has so many things to offer us about ourselves today. Tomorrow we'll finish up this wonderful story and see if we see ourselves in Jonah some more. For today, hear God's voice. Listen for it and follow His direction. He has only the best of things for you. It might be a little rough along the way but some how it is always worth the ride. It may also not be for you that you endure something. It may be for a complete stranger or friend. But it will be worth everything to see the life of someone else changed to see the glory of God. I want everyone there. All of us. No one left behind. Do your part today to do what God is calling you to do. Don't get swallowed up. In love always. <><

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. <><