Losing Your Marbles & Stuff

I regard golf as an expensive way of playing marbles.  G.K. Chesterton

Laughter is the most beautiful and beneficial therapy God ever granted humanity. Chuck Swindoll

I think I am easily amused or maybe I am just not awake yet.  Otherwise, why would I find this so funny?    

We have a break room in our office and there is a bulletin board on the wall where you can post discount passes to events, menus and things you are selling.  There is a sheet posted on the bulletin board that has been there for months.  It is a blank sheet of paper with two push pins on it that are holding missing items that someone in the office found.  One is an earring and the other is a piece of a bracelet.  I went into the kitchen this morning and I noticed there was something written on the piece of paper and what looked like a drawing of some sort.  I decided to check it out.  Someone had drawn five round circles with an arrow pointing to it and next to it they wrote “Marbles, Yes these are mine!” I laughed out loud.  Some days I feel just like that. 

Here is another totally unrelated story.  Last night my husband and I were watching one of those shows about “Unusual Homes”.  There is a guy in California who purchased an Airstream motorhome and converted it into his home.  The Airstream is 30 feet long and has high-end fixtures and even a claw-foot tub and full size bathroom.  It even has a skylight.  The thing that struck me was the comment he made about his home.  He said, “I no longer ask myself can I afford it, but can I store it?” 

I thought that statement was priceless. Raise your hand if you have so much stuff that you don’t have a place to put it.  Both of my hands went up.  We have so much stuff that we have to rent space to store it.  God never intended for us to accumulate so much stuff that we don’t have a place to put it.  I think we would probably laugh more and be more joyful if we got rid of the stuff that crowds our thoughts and takes up space. 

The moral of this story.  If you feel like you are losing your marbles, you are not alone.  Lighten your load of stuff and you just may find you have more time to spend with God and less time trying to remember where you put it.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I think You gave us laughter to lift our hearts.  I was driving this morning and I was tired and discouraged.  When I walked into the kitchen and saw that silly note I laughed out loud.  It was such a silly thing but it brought me joy.  Thank you for giving me the gift of laughter and help me to get rid of my excess stuff to make more room for time with You.

Scripture:   Parable of the Rich Fool

Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”  But He said to him, “Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?”  And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.  And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’  So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.  And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’  But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’  “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Gifts of Love

The purpose of Jesus' death was to glorify the Father. To be willing as the Son of God to suffer the loss of so much glory Himself in order to repair the injury done to God's glory by our sin showed how infinitely valuable the glory of God is. To be sure, the death of Christ also shows God's love for us. But we are not at the center.  John Piper

When I was little we would make gifts to give our parents for various occasions including Mother’s and Father’s Day and birthdays.  I get some of my creativity from my Mom although my Dad did teach me the creativity that can happen when you don’t have the right tool so he taught me how to improvise.  Remember my devotional about rotating my tires and my cheater.  Creativity comes in all forms.

When you are little you don’t have any money so you make things by hand to give as gifts.  Let me give you a few examples.  When we were building our house in the country there was always wood pieces left over from building the house.  Some of the pieces came from leftover crown molding so these pieces already had a nice edge on them.  I decided to make my Mom a plaque.  I painted the board bright yellow and I drew a picture on the wood in pencil of a little girl kneeling on the ground picking a flower.  I am not a good artist by any means so you can imagine what she looked like.  I took leftover scraps of fabric and made her a little flowered dress and a hat that I glued in place.  I took tiny beads and decorated the flowers on her dress.  It was a real cheesy piece.

Another lovely piece was a plaque out of chicken feathers.  What can I say, we had wood and chickens.  You use what’s available.  Another lovely gift was a pine cone that I glued red berries onto the branches and glittered.   

When I presented that first plaque to my Mom, you would have thought it was a Picasso from the look on her face and the praise I received over that hunk of decorated wood.  My mom actually hung it on the wall in our house.  Have you noticed how parents don’t have worldly taste when it comes to their kid’s artistic endeavors?  It doesn’t matter how lopsided, uneven or ugly it is, they cherish whatever you do. 

An example of a gift that I received from my nephew when he was four is one of my most cherished items.  It hangs on my refrigerator to this day.  He drew a picture of something.  I can’t remember what it was a picture of, although it was colorful.  He had written in Crayola “To Aunt Brane”.  I was really Aunt Bren but that picture always brings back sweet memories of me babysitting him.  He never wanted to go to sleep so I would sit by his bed and rub his head until he drifted off.  His little hand would pat my arm over and over again because he was trying so hard to stay awake.  When I think of that little hand patting my arm it brings tears to my eyes.  He is now a senior in high school. 

When I started thinking about the gifts, if brought to mind God and Jesus.  Can you imagine the agony Jesus felt when he asked God to take away the suffering he was about to endure, even knowing at that moment that to save us he would have to go through death on the cross because it was God’s will. 

Then I thought about God and His only Son.  How must God have felt to watch His only Son suffer?  A Son without sin who would die a terribly painful death. If you are a parent and you put yourself in God’s place, could you do it?  It was the ultimate gift to our Heavenly Father and to us.      

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I don’t deserve the gift of salvation but I praise you for giving us the opportunity to be saved in spite of our sin.  Thank You for the gift of your Son on a cross so that I could be set free.  What an extraordinary gift!   

Scripture:  Prayer in the Garden

Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, “Sit here while I go and pray over there.” And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.  Then He said to them, “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.”

He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”  

Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “What! Could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy.

So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then He came to His disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.  Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand.” Matthew 26:36-46

Mobile Devices

You will not be in heaven two seconds before you cry out, why did I place so much importance on things that were so temporary? What was I thinking? Why did I waste so much time, energy and concern on what wasn't going to last? Rick Warren

Those who know me personally or read my blog, know that I am not technologically savvy in some areas.  When it comes to my mobile device, (i.e. iPhone), I am literally behind the times.  There is a whole different language when you talk about mobile devices.  Let me explain.

I have a mobile device called a Smart Phone.  Go figure.  A Smart Phone for someone who doesn’t know how to use it.  How ironic.  I had an Android, (another word for a Smart Phone), but this year I decided to move up to the iPhone.  This is dangerous territory for a novice like me.  It has taken me three months to figure out how to listen to my messages.  The problem with picking up my messages came when it didn’t give me the option to listen to the message before I called the person back.  Since I didn’t read the manual before I became fully operational on my iPhone, I didn’t know where the listen button was. 

Then there was the volume button on the side of the phone.  I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t hear my phone ringing.  I knew where the button was to turn the volume up but for some reason all it would do was vibrate.  It took me two months to figure out that there was a button on the side that turned off the ringer.

Yesterday I finally was able to get “Siri” to call my husband for me.  At the rate this is going maybe I should just have her talk to him instead of me.  She seems to be a lot smarter than I am when it comes to the device. 

Then there is the whole mobile app thing.  This one really confuses me.  I was looking at apps, not because I plan on using any, but because I was curious what all the fuss was about apps.  Did you know Starbucks even has apps?  You can get “Square Wallet” so that you can pay for your coffee with your phone.  I think they should be politically correct and call the women’s version “Square Purse”. 

There is a “Zlitter” app that is a real-time location sharing only with people you care about: Zlitter’s location-awareness technology virtually eliminates privacy concerns by allowing you to control your own visibility. 

My all time favorite for absurdity though is the “Inner Balance App”. This is an app that offers both monitoring and training to effectively manage stress and rebalance the mind and emotions.   You can actually purchase a sensor to attach to your earlobe that measures your heart rate and rhythms and reflect emotional fluctuations.  Supposedly you can gain inner balance and happiness just by using this app. The app is free but the sensor is going to set you back about $99. 

There are so many apps out there that I can’t cover all of them.  The thing that struck me most about apps is how much time they take to use, download and cost in some cases.  Call me an old fashioned Baby Boomer, but I can get all the happiness and inner peace I need by spending time with God. Don’t misunderstand me when I say that I think there are apps that are helpful and can be beneficial.  But, last time I checked, God wants us to love others so where does this happen when you are using an app to only communicate with the people you care about.    

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I admit I am not the smartest person when it comes to certain technology.  I love the conveniences of some technology because it makes it easier for me to carry my Bible and search scripture.  I think there are times where technology can be detrimental to us by taking away from our time with You.  Help me to not get so caught up in the newest technology, that I sacrifice my time with You. I love the simplicity of just holding my Bible.  I can feel your presence in the pages. 

Scripture:  Be Steadfast

Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; and consider that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.  You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.  2 Peter 3:14-18

Winning at All Cost

God can use you to help win the lost.  Warren Wiersbe

We have become a society that wants to win at all cost.  We see this on every sports field in the country.  Parents want their children to excel in sports so they encourage winning at the cost of relationships.  How many parents have you seen who become angry because their child doesn’t get to bat or play in the game?  Often they will get so angry that they will either attack the coach or referee.  When did winning become the main goal above all else?    

God gives each of us talents to use for His kingdom.  Each child is given talents that should be nurtured, but too many times a parent will want their child to win so much that they will push the child into a sport or profession that they have no God-given talent in. 

Sometimes this happens because the parent wanted to excel in something but didn’t, so they try to mold their child into what they couldn’t be or they try to force their child to become what God never intended them to be. 

The pressure that is placed on kids in this day and age to become the best and to win at all costs is often beyond what a child’s maturity level can handle.  Parents often will push their children into three or four sports or into an occupation and when this happens and the child fails, a parent will often ridicule the child for not winning.  

We can see biblical examples of winning at all costs by reading about Cain and Abel. Cain wanted to win God’s favor but Cain’s offering wasn’t pleasing to God but Abel’s was and Cain killed Abel over it. 

One of the things I love about Jesus is that he never lost sight of what His ultimate goal was in His life on earth.  He was here to win souls and he did that even while he was hanging on a cross dying for our sins.  Winning can be a blessing or a curse.  It all depends on how it is applied.    

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I often see children berated for not winning on the sports field.  I see children pressured into being something they were never intended to be.  You give each of us talents that are intended for the purpose of Your kingdom. Help parents to understand the huge responsibility they have and to use the wisdom You provide to teach their children how to use their God-given talents.      

Scripture:  For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Romans 12:4-5

And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord.  Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the Lord respected Abel and his offering, but He did not respect Cain and his offering.  And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell. So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen?  If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.  Genesis 4:3-8

Does Money Make the World Go Round?

If a person gets his attitude toward money straight, it will help straighten out almost every other area in his life. Billy Graham

Sixteen of the thirty-eight parables of Jesus deal with money. One out of ten verses in the New Testament deals with that subject. Scripture offers about five hundred verses on prayer, fewer than five hundred on faith, and over two thousand on money. The believer's attitude toward money and possessions is determinative.  John MacArthur

There is a saying that says “money makes the world go round.”  The world makes it hard to keep our focus on God.  There are so many things going on around us that it is easy to become distracted.

My husband and I went to dinner last night and were joined by an acquaintance.  This acquaintance made the comment to me that he hadn’t seen me in a long time.  I commented back that I had been busy.  He knows that I spend most Friday evenings and weekends with my parents helping them with their business.  He then made a strange comment or at least I thought it was strange.  He said “I hope your parents appreciate and remember how much time you spend with them and what you do for them.” 

Remember me for what?  I was shocked or maybe amazed that someone could think like that. I responded by telling him that all the blessing I will ever need I have already received by being able to spend the time with them now.  I don’t need or want what they do or don’t have in the way of possessions on this earth.  The wisdom and love these two people have given me throughout my life is worth more than any amount of money. 

How do you get to the point where money means everything and relationships don’t?  This acquaintance is an only child whose parents passed away and left him all of their possessions and money when they died.  He spends the majority of his time watching his stocks and worrying about if he will have enough money to retire.  He still owns a flip phone and last night he said his stockbroker told him he needed to buy a smart phone so that he could get his stock updates on his phone.  He said when he checked into getting rid of his flip phone, it was going to cost him $159 to get out of his contract.  I’m thinking to myself, “Dude, money is your obsession.” 

My husband will ask him what he plans to do with all his money and stocks and he will say “I am going to live off of it when I retire.”  Retire for what?  This is an example of a guy who goes to church but doesn’t get the big picture.  The big picture is that everything we own is not ours.  The money we accumulate is not ours.  God makes the world go round and he will also bring it to a screeching halt one day and all the money and stocks in the world will not change the reality of this truth.      

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I am often guilty of using money to pursue happiness.  What I have learned is that money will not buy happiness, love or salvation.  Our only true source of happiness, love and salvation is found in You.  I pray that you will help me to keep my focus on You and to realize that money is just an object of this world.  I don’t believe there will be banks on every corner in heaven. 

Scripture:  Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.  And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content.  But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.  For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.  1 Timothy 6:6-10

Aging Successfully

Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us.  Abraham Lincoln

Those who have failed miserably are often the first to see God's formula for success.  Erwin Lutzer

I was listening to a commercial recently and it was talking about helping your family member’s age successfully.  What exactly does that mean?  Is that opposed to aging unsuccessfully?  I always heard that you could age gracefully, not successfully.

Aging is kind of an odd thing in itself.  Skin that once was smooth becomes wrinkled and stretches all out of proportion. Our hair grays, eyesight goes bad and our memory fades. 

When I started thinking about aging successfully, I thought of all of the characters in the Bible who lived for hundreds of years longer than we do.  In this day and age if you live to be a hundred that is a major accomplishment.  In the Old Testament it was nothing to live to be 500 or 600 years old.

In today’s world, if you age successfully this means you have attained wealth, achieved popularity, profit or distinction and reach the ripe old age of 80.   If you were to age gracefully this is characterized by elegance and beauty of form. I think we can all age gracefully and successfully if we use applications from the Bible.

There are two Hebrew names in the Bible that mean graceful and success.  The name Hannah in Hebrew means graceful.  Hannah was the mother of Samuel.  If you remember her story, she was unable to have children but she prayed to the Lord and he honored her with Samuel.

The Hebrew name that means success is Elisha.  If you read of the many miracles that Elisha performed on God’s behalf he was very successful.  He raised the Shunammite woman’s son from the dead, purified a pot of stew to feed the sons of the prophets and healed Naaman’s leprosy.  Elisha was a successful prophet by the Bible’s account. 

Success to God is not the same thing that we often associate success with on earth.  If we place all of our hope on the success of earth we will be left empty handed.  .

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I want to be a success on earth by Your standards.  That means if I achieve success in my job I give to others of the blessings you have given me.  I can also age gracefully.  If I have love in my heart for others and show it then I guess that means I can be gracefully successful in Your eyes.  Help me to use the correct measuring stick when I apply these to my life.

Scripture: If the ax is dull, and one does not sharpen the edge, then he must use more strength; but wisdom brings success.  A serpent may bite when it is not charmed; the babbler is no different.  The words of a wise man’s mouth are gracious, but the lips of a fool shall swallow him up;  The words of his mouth begin with foolishness, and the end of his talk is raving madness.  Ecclesiastes 10:10-13

And Hannah prayed and said: “My heart rejoices in the Lord; My horn is exalted in the Lord. I smile at my enemies, Because I rejoice in Your salvation. “No one is holy like the Lord, for there is none besides You, nor is there any rock like our God.  “Talk no more so very proudly; let no arrogance come from your mouth, for the Lord is the God of knowledge; and by Him actions are weighed.  1 Samuel 2:1-3

Rising Water

There are times when life, like a river, is over your head and you feel like you are drowning. Yet, the water from these very rivers wash away your filth. What the water does not remove, the fire purifies.  Francis Frangipane

Can you imagine what it must have felt like to be the people outside Noah’s Ark when God flooded the earth? That would be scary wouldn’t it? 

When we were kids we lived near the gulf and we would often go down to the Gulf of Mexico to fish.  There was a boat channel that was built for the ships that were bringing in shipments from all over the world.  We would see ships that were as long as a football field and filled with new cars. 

The ship channel was really deep.  This was so the ships could come into port.  There were jetties built alongside the channel.  The jetties were rocks the size of a Smart Car stacked haphazardly in piles that extended away from the shore for what seemed like miles.  The jetties kept the sand on the shallow side from washing out when big ships came into the channel. 

On one side of the jetties the water was shallow but it was deep on the other side.  We would walk along the shallow side in waste deep water and then climb the jetties and fish into the channel. 

For those of you who are not fisherman, we could catch some of the strangest fish.  If you have ever caught a flounder, you know what I am talking about.  This fish is flat and has both eyes on the same side of his head.  It looks kind of like a dinner plate with two eyes on top.  I read where a flounder is born with eyes on both sides of its head but as it grows into an adult its eyes migrate to the same side.  So imagine a dinner plate with eyes on the ocean floor with both eyes topside.  This is one weird fish. 

One summer we went fishing on the jetties and my brother and I were standing next to each other fishing into the channel.  Far out in the channel we saw a ship coming in.  It was so cool watching this huge ship slowly cruise by.  It was also really cool when the ship passed by and the water level dropped about four feet.  What wasn’t so cool was that the water that was sucked out by the passing of the ship had to come back in.  So we are standing on these huge rocks when all of a sudden we see the water start heading toward us.  I’m sure it would have been comical to see our faces at the point where we realized the water was getting ready to overtake us and crash over the rocks.  We survived it although we did get soaked.  My biggest fear was getting washed off the rocks into the deep channel. 

Thinking about it now that must have been what the people on earth felt like when it rained for 40 days and the water started rising.  Can you imagine it raining and not stopping and as the water rises you move to higher ground and it just keeps coming?  Can you also imagine what the people felt like who had made fun of Noah for building a boat where there was no water?  We worship an all-powerful God and He wants our obedience. Many died because they didn’t believe what He said.          

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, Your majesty and power are shown throughout the Bible yet there are still many who don’t believe that there is another disaster coming.  I have experienced the fear of rising water and the next time it won’t be water.  I praise You for allowing me to be saved.     

Scripture:   “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master.  It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher, and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of his household!  Therefore do not fear them. For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known.

Jesus Teaches the Fear of God

“Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops.  And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.  Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.  Matthew 10:24-31

Snapshots of God

Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable, and receives the impossible.  Corrie Ten Boom

I love to take pictures.  One of the things that fascinate me is that photos evoke memories of a time past.  As soon as a photo is taken it is part of the past.  I carry my camera everywhere as I never know when I may see something I want to take a picture of to reflect on later.

In my devotional yesterday I spoke of Lee who makes gingerbread houses and ornaments.  On Friday evening when we were preparing to leave Lee had a large rolling bag that she wanted to return to her car.  Since Mom, Dad and I were leaving at the same time we told her we would help her get the bag to her car.  As often happens at these shows, they don’t allow you to park close to the event.  You are normally parked in the “back forty.”  If you have never heard this phrase, back forty means a remote, usually uncultivated acreage at the back of your property.  That is where we had to park our cars.  I was beginning to think our car was parked in Fort Worth.

As we were leaving I had my camera, my purse and a special bag that two very special ladies had given me as a gift.  Patty and Debbie (sisters) gave me a beautiful Vera Wang bag that I carry with me everywhere I go.  They gave me the bag as a thank you for writing the devotionals.  One of my most prized possessions is in this bag.  I have an external hard drive that holds all of my pictures, the devotionals I write and also devotional ideas that I am in the process of writing.  It has photos of my niece and nephew’s graduations, my sisters’ weddings, family photos, my dog, and even Gladys and the Pips.  Needless to say, if I ever lost this bag I would be devastated. 

Back to my story.  We get to the dock and Dad and Mom decide they will walk to the back forty to get the car and Lee and I would stay with the bags. When Dad pulls up we start loading everything in the car.  We jump in, drive Lee to her car and then Mom, Dad and I leave.  We decide to go to dinner.  Three hours later Mom and Dad take me to the house to drop me off and I realize my bag is not in the car.  The only place my bag could be is outside on the dock leaning next to a pole in downtown Dallas at the Convention Center where all kinds of people are wandering around.  The chances of my bag being there after three hours are slim. 

Dad tells me they will take me back to the Convention Center to see if it is there.  So I start praying. We pull up to the Convention Center and head up the ramp and I am praying the whole way.  As we come around the corner Dad slows down and my bag is leaning against the pole exactly where I left it.  There were cars parked everywhere on the dock but my bag was still sitting there untouched. 

This made me think of God and how He must view each of us.  We are a treasure that is lost until we turn to Him and accept his offer of Salvation.  My lost bag is minor compared to God’s people who are created in His image.  How brokenhearted He must feel when we stray away from him.  I got a snapshot this weekend of God and how His heart must break for lost souls.   

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I was able to get a snapshot of You this weekend.  My lost bag would have devastated me because I have every photo of the people I love here on earth.  The devastation I felt knowing my bag was lost is minor compared to how You must feel for all the lost souls here on earth.  Help me to bring others home to You. 

Scripture:  “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’ Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”  Luke 15:8-10

I have set the Lord always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.  Psalm 16:8

Where Two or Three are Gathered Expo

To a true child of God, the invisible bond that unites all believers to Christ is far more tender, and lasting, and precious; and, as we come to recognize and realize that we are all dwelling in one sphere of life in Him, we learn to look on every believer as our brother, in a sense that is infinitely higher than all human relationships. This is the one and only way to bring disciples permanently together. All other plans for promoting the unity of the Church have failed.  A.T. Pierson

Some Christians try to go to heaven alone, in solitude. But believers are not compared to bears or lions or other animals that wander alone. Those who belong to Christ are sheep in this respect, that they love to get together. Sheep go in flocks, and so do God's people.  Charles Spurgeon

This weekend my Mom, Dad and I attended a local event in Dallas called the Nursery & Landscape Expo.  It was the most amazing event.  The amazing part wasn’t the full size palm trees or the oak trees that touched the ceiling of this four story building.  The amazing part was the people. 

Have you ever met individuals that you just felt like you had known them for years?  That happened at this event. It gave me a picture of what being joyful in Christ really means.  The amazing thing was many of the people we met are Christians and we were able to share God with each other.  I laughed more than I have in years.  I have many stories to tell so I will tell you a little about some of them.

Lee is the owner of Gingerhaus.  She was across the aisle from us and she designs the most amazing Christmas ornaments.  The ornaments are hand drawn, three dimensional and then laser cut.  You can pick one up and look in the window of churches with steeples and there are carolers inside with Christmas trees.  She has dog house ornaments with a puppy that stands on the front porch with a bone in his mouth.  The intricacy of the ornaments is amazing.   There is a hole in the bottom of each ornament so you can insert a Christmas light through the bottom and you can see all the delicate details when you look through the window.  She also designs gingerbread house kits that are absolutely beautiful.

Then we met Mike who was a rep for Chick Magic.  Chick Magic is an organic chicken fertilizer for plants.  Mike is what I would call a chicken poop expert.  We listened to him tell stories about his 3,000 acre farm in Branson Missouri.  He has a team of 6 foot tall mules that he uses to plant corn and other vegetables.  We learned about his grandkids, children, Bert his oldest mule and mountain lions but the most amazing thing about him was his love for the Lord.  When he talked about the Lord he just choked up and tears would gather in his blue eyes. 

Then we met Barbara.  Barbara owns a tree farm and she was this tiny little lady but she had what I call angel eyes.  Her eyes just twinkled when she talked about God. When she walked into our booth it was like we had known her for years.  We talked and hugged and I learned about her daughter Lisa and her grandson John.  She had been in our booth for about an hour when we told her she needed to go across the aisle and meet Lee. She went over and talked to Lee and then she left.  Lee walked over to us after Barbara left and thanked us for sending Barbara over to see her.  Barbara had actually prayed for Lee’s husband and Lee wanted to know how long we had known Barbara.  We just laughed and told her we had just met her today. 

The thing that touched me the most this weekend was the joy that surrounded our group when we got together.  We normally gathered in the aisle and just laughed and talked and told stories and it was all stories about how God had touched each of our lives in one way or another. 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, thank you for showing me You through Lee and Mike and Barbara.  The joy and laughter we shared this weekend gave me a small glimpse of what I think Heaven will be like and I can’t wait. You were in our midst as we laughed and talked and the joy was simply amazing.

Scripture:   “Again I say to you that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven.  For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.” Matthew 18:19-21

Pepe Le Pew Sighting

White is not a mere absence of color; it is a shining and affirmative thing, as fierce as red, as definite as black. God paints in many colors; but He never paints so gorgeously as when He paints in white.  G.K. Chesterton

I’ve come to the conclusion that either I lead an exciting life or trouble follows me everywhere.  I saw Pepe this morning.  I pulled up to our building and reached over to pick up my purse when out of the corner of my eye I saw something running across the parking lot.  It was Pepe Le Pew our resident skunk.  He really doesn’t need to worry about me being a danger to him.  I am more of a danger to myself by the mere fact that I am more likely to break something trying to get away from him.  I am not sure why he was moving so fast unless he saw breakfast in the bushes in front of our building.  He actually ran into the bushes at the entrance to our building. 

I guess it is a good thing that I get to work so early because I don’t have other cars to obstruct the view in case he decides to sneak up on me.  Did you know that skunks have an excellent sense of smell and hearing but poor eyesight?  I’m thinking he probably wishes he had better eyesight and a poor sense of smell.  Right about now I am guessing he heard me park this morning and his sense of hearing made him run.  I am just thankful his eyesight was poor and he didn’t run toward me and go under my car. 

I started thinking, which is a dangerous thing in itself.  What would God be trying to teach me with this incident?  If you think about it, a skunk probably has few friends.  The very thought of his defense mechanism makes me want to run for the hills.  He doesn’t need to carry a sign to advertise it.  The fact that he has a white stripe down his back distinguishes him from every other creature God created.

Then I thought about his color.  He is black and white.  This reminded me of our sin.  We can be washed with the blood of Christ or tainted with the blackness of the sin of Satan.  God allows us the freedom to choose.  If you accept the hope that is found in Christ there is an eternity of freedom waiting for you in heaven.      

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, You amaze me with the creatures you placed on earth.  The very characteristics that exist in animals can often be applied to humans.  I see You in everything, even the smallest creatures on earth.  We don’t have to look far in order to see You at work. You provided a way for our sin to be washed clean through the death of Jesus on a cross.  I praise You for Your great love.      

Scripture: Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him.  And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?”  But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.  When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.  And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:13-17

Jealousy

Sins such as envy, jealousy, covetousness, and greed very markedly reveal a focus on self. Instead you are to please God and bless others by practicing biblical stewardship which is to care for and give of the physical and spiritual resources that God has provided for you.  John C. Broger

The cure for the sin of envy and jealousy is to find our contentment in God.  Jerry Bridges

I was talking to a good friend recently and we started talking about jealousy and the damage it can do to relationships.  It can destroy marriages, families, careers and friendships. 

If you look at where jealousy began we can see it is an all-consuming sin that destroys everything in its path.  One of the key things about jealousy is that it starts with self.  If you think about it, Eve was jealous that God had knowledge that she and Adam didn’t have and that was the beginning of the fall.  Then Adam and Eve had Cain and Abel and look how that turned out. 

Throughout the Bible there are examples of jealousy.  If you dig deeper into why many of the characters in the Bible failed, you will see a focus on self that expressed itself in jealousy.  There are many prominent people in the Bible who were susceptible to this sin.  Saul was jealous of David throughout his reign.  He was jealous enough to try to kill him over and over again.  Joseph’s brothers were jealous of their father’s favoritism towards him so they sold him into slavery. 

What often happens with jealousy is it starts in your head and then moves to your heart.  Once it takes up residence in your heart it joins forces with envy, suspicion, distrust and selfishness. When jealousy takes up residence in your heart you are fighting the battle of your life.  Satan will take every opportunity to exploit you and we often make it easy for him. 

There are several things we can do to remove jealousy from our heart.  We must first submit to God in everything.  In James 4:7 it says, “Therefore submit to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”  The second thing we must do is resist.  In Hosea 4:6 it says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…” We must resist Satan and his ploy to use jealousy to destroy us.  If we are not careful and diligent, we can fall just as easily into the trap that Satan sets before us.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, jealousy is a sin that can sneak up and overtake us when we least expect it.  If I don’t submit to You and resist this sin, it can destroy everything. I praise You for providing me the scriptures that tell me exactly how to fight against this all-consuming sin.  

Scripture:  
The Whole Armor of God
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Ephesians 6:10-12

Submit to God, Resist the Devil
Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 1 Peter 5-6

Finding Joy In Everything

When the heart is full of joy, it always allows its joy to escape. It is like the fountain in the marketplace; whenever it is full it runs away in streams, and as soon as it ceases to overflow, you may be quite sure that it has ceased to be full. The only full heart is the overflowing heart.  Charles Spurgeon

I am having a little problem with joy this morning.  Why this morning you ask?  Well, here is another story in the life of a struggling Christian. 

Yesterday I pull onto our street after work and I drive in front of my house.  We live on a corner lot so we have a parkway that runs beside our house.  I pass in front of our house and there is a big stack of boxes piled on the sidewalk in the corner of our yard.  The boxes are folded flat and scattered haphazardly on the corner of our lawn.   So the first thought that runs through my mind is, did Jerry stack those there.  I’m thinking that is not the case because we didn’t have that many boxes in the house and we stack our trash in the alley.

When Jerry gets home shortly after I do, he walks into the house and asks me where those boxes in the front yard came from.  I told him I was going to ask him the same thing.  Since we are at work all day we have no idea where the boxes came from, who put them there or even why they are there.  Needless to say, after both of us worked all day and didn’t get home until 6:00pm, neither of us wanted to go out to our front yard and pick up boxes that weren’t even ours.  So this morning when I left the house in the dark, there are the boxes piled in the corner of our yard.  It frustrated me all over again.  I should have picked them up the night before.

Some of my frustration comes from the fact that when we mow our alley we first have to clean out all the soda cans, food wrappers and trash that people throw into our bushes behind our fence.  I was raised that you don’t throw trash out of the car.  My thoughts on this are that God provided us a place to live and we should care enough about it to not junk it up.    

I admit my first reaction was to take them and stack them on the corner next to us.  That was not very Christian-like of me because what if the neighbor didn’t put them there and I certainly am not showing my neighbor what it means to be filled with joy.   

So all the way to work I am thinking about what God would like me to learn from this.  What would reflect God the most to others in this circumstance?  That started me thinking about how they might have gotten there in the first place.  What if someone stacked boxes into their truck so they could move and didn’t tie them down and the boxes slid off the bed of the truck onto our yard and they never knew the boxes fell off. Then there could also be a neighbor who doesn’t like us so they are simply providing the tools for us to move.  When you look at it that way it’s kind of sweet.

Most of the time what happens in circumstances like this is we jump to conclusions.  We think we already know the answer so we make a fool of ourselves.   I admit I have done the jumping to conclusions thing many times in my life.

So this evening I will get out and pick up the boxes in my yard. For all I know the person who lost the boxes may decide to come by today and retrieve them.  The thing is if any of my neighbors look out the window and see me picking up the boxes and taking them to the trash they will get a much better picture of God than if I walked across the street and put them on another neighbor’s lawn.    

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I often struggle with finding joy in everything.  I get frustrated with the things around me and it is often then reflected in how I treat other people.  This is not Your plan for me and I know it.  I need Your help to find joy in everything I do, so that others can see You in me.     

Scripture:  I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.  For as the earth brings forth its bud, As the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations. Isaiah 61:10-11

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.  But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.  If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.  But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.  For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. James 1:2-8