Be All You Can Be

Any time we open ourselves up to fear, we fall prey to his deceptions and intimidations. Yet, if we submit our hearts to God and stand in faith, we can resist those first fearful thoughts. As we yield to God we can master our reactions to fear and the enemy will soon flee.  Francis Frangipane

My middle sister and I went to high school together.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have the opportunity to go to school with my oldest sister as she had graduated before I started, and I graduated before my younger brother started. 

Anyway, when I was a sophomore my sister was a junior.  We joined our marching group and at the time my sister was a Junior Co-Captain.  I decided to try to follow in her footsteps.  You had to try out for the various captain positions and to this day I don’t know how I was able to get through the try-outs.  I was extremely shy, (you can’t say that about me today), and there were several things you had to do in try-outs.  You had to make up a hand-routine, (this was kind of like a mime with gloves on), give a speech, do a marching routine and blow all the whistle commands. 

Here is this skinny, extremely shy teenager who is going to get up in front of 150 girls and sponsors and give a speech, do routines and not pass out from sheer terror.  This is the thing.  In my freshman year I tried out for Junior Co-Captain and I didn’t make it.  You would have thought I would have stopped there.  I didn’t.  The next year when my sister was a Senior Co-Captain I was determined to try out again.  I guess failure didn’t sit well with me, so that year I tried out again. 

That was the year I came out of my shell.  I was no longer this shy introverted person.  I overcame my fear of rejection.  I had already lost the previous year so what made me think I would win the next one.  I like to think that was God working in me.  The coolest thing about this whole thing was when I tried out the second time I received enough votes to become Senior Co-Captain and the even cooler thing was I took my sister’s place when she graduated.  They had a ceremony that took place when the votes were counted and my sister symbolically passed her whistle on to me.  That is one of the best memories I have of high school.  Not only had I accomplished something I never thought I could do, but I had a special memory with my sister. 

God created us to become more than we ever think is possible.  The moment of try outs for me was filled with fear.  My fear was so great that I thought when I stepped out in front of the crowd that I would freeze and not be able to say a word.  The weird thing is I don’t remember the faces of everyone looking on.  I had practiced so long and hard that it just came to me without thinking about it.  Isn’t that the very thing God wants from us.  He wants us to meditate on His word every day so that when we are called to step out in faith, we will not hesitate.  Don’t let fear interfere with God’s purpose in your life.    

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, what better way to praise You than to live my life for You.  The memories of years gone by have taught me that You created each of us with a purpose in mind.  Your purpose can only be fulfilled if we step out in faith.  This faith will only come if I am willing to set aside my fear and walk toward You.  Thank you for helping me to be all that I can be for You.

Scripture:   Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.  We love Him because He first loved us.  1 John 4:17-19

Refrigerator Magnets

I remember the time an older man asked me when I was young, "Do you know what you are doing now?" I thought it was some kind of trick question. Tell me," I said. You are building your memories," he replied, "so make them good ones." Ravi Zacharias

I was watching Sunday Morning on, you guessed it, Sunday morning and there was a piece on refrigerator magnets.  A study shows that 87% of Americans have magnets on their refrigerators except those made of stainless steel.  They won’t hold a magnet. 

I found it interesting because they talked about how you can tell a great deal about a family just by looking at their refrigerator.  It started me thinking about the magnets I have on my refrigerator.  I have magnets shaped like pasta, magnets holding blank notepads for grocery lists, fruit and vegetable magnets, a crawfish magnet that my husband gave me many years ago.  He had written a poem telling me how much he loved me that included the word crawfish in it.  It was very romantic.   I have various magnets that include the numbers of my local pizza joint, dentist, a magnet with who to call for benefits questions and I even have a Titanic magnet.  It says the following:  “Some days I feel like all I am doing is rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.”

Then there are all the things that are held onto the frig with the magnets.  One side of my refrigerator has pictures that my nephews and I drew when they had sleep overs at our house, there are pictures they drew for me at various times of space aliens and there is one of my favorites that simply says, “I love you Aunt Brane”.  I like to think he thought I was really smart, but I think he was just learning to spell so he didn’t know how to spell Bren. I also have graduation photos of our friend’s children, photos of various family members at different events and school pictures of kids in the family.

What does your refrigerator say about you and your family?  There is history on most refrigerators. The only thing I don’t have on my refrigerator are my favorite scriptures.   I think I might buy one of those Magnetic Poetry kits that have different words you can rearrange on your refrigerator.  That way I will always have a reminder of the God who loves me and what better way to learn the Word that God wants us to bury deep in our hearts. 

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I can picture everything on my refrigerator because I pass by it every day and many times it makes me smile because it helps to remind me of special moments in my life.  I want to include You in those special moments because they are the most important.  I think I will update my refrigerator with memories of You. 

Scripture:   “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you.  But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.  Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:25-27

 

 

I Before E Except After C

God means every Christian to be effective, to make a difference in the actual records and results of Christian work. God put each of us here to be a power. There is not one of us but is an essential wheel of the machinery and can accomplish all that God calls us to.  A.B. Simpson

Do you remember the things they played on TV on Saturday’s when you were a kid?  These were little songs they used to help you learn grammar or the Constitution.  There was “Conjunction Junction, What’s Your Function?” and “I’m Just a Bill Up on Capitol Hill”.  They used these really cheesy cartoons to signify the bill climbing up the hill. 

When I was in school one of the things that stayed with me was something they used to help you remember when to use “i” before “e”.  There was the rule that you used “i” before “e” except after “c”. 

When I applied this little rule to our Christian life if goes something like this.  If I put “i” before “e” (eternal life), my life will not reflect what God wants to save us from.  It is only after ‘C” (Christ) that I can come to God redeemed.  What this does is it moves “I” to its proper place “last”.  If I don’t have Christ at the top of my schedule and daily life, what do I have to look forward to in the next life? 

This is the time of year for graduations.  I noticed there was this young man doing the commencement speech at his high school.  The school had banned religious prayer at school events and his speech had to be pre-approved by the administration.      

Upon taking the stage, the valedictorian explained to his fellow students that although he had a prepared speech which had been approved by the administration, he instead was choosing to say the Lord's Prayer as a message to his classmates.

"Those that we look up to, they have helped carve and mold us into the young adults that we are today," Costner told the crowd, adding "I'm so glad that both of my parents led me to the Lord at a young age."

"And I think most of you will understand when I say […]" Costner continued, pausing briefly before beginning the Lord's Prayer.

"Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name," Costner recited, going on to say the Lord's Prayer in its entirety.

We have become a complacent society.  It has become less important that we as Christians show others “Whose” we are and instead we are becoming more politically correct.  If someone complains about “In God We Trust” being on the dollar bill will we submit to changing it to “In the world we Trust”?  Our world is in trouble when we can’t speak about Him in open assemblies or proclaim Him from the mountaintop. When will we say enough is enough and ignore the consequences of following God?  Those consequences being worldly ridicule.  When we lay aside the pursuit to be like the world we might just make a stand as this young man did for God’s Kingdom.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I admire the young man who stood up for You to an administration who wouldn’t.  I pray that I too will stand when others speak against You.  You are my Heavenly Father whom I adore.  Give me the strength to take a stand for You in a world that desperately needs a Saviour.  I praise Your Holy Name above all men. 
 
Scripture:  Then Nebuchadnezzar, in rage and fury, gave the command to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. So they brought these men before the king.  Nebuchadnezzar spoke, saying to them, “Is it true, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up? Now if you are ready at the time you hear the sound of the horn, flute, harp, lyre, and psaltery, in symphony with all kinds of music, and you fall down and worship the image which I have made, good! But if you do not worship, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is the god who will deliver you from my hands?”  Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”  Daniel 3:13-18 

 

Driving

Many Christians dread the thought of leaving this world. Why? Because so many have stored up their treasures on earth, not in heaven. Each day brings us closer to death. If your treasures are on earth, that means each day brings you closer to losing your treasures.  Randy Alcorn

I was watching the news this morning and a man in New Zealand is 105 years old.  That in itself is an amazing accomplishment but the really interesting thing is he just renewed his driver’s license.  He said the first car he ever drove didn’t have a steering wheel but a stick and he received his driver’s license in 1925. They said he had only had one minor accident and no traffic tickets in the 92 years he has been driving. I thought this was an amazing feat until they showed him driving.  There were nothing but cows and open fields where he lived.  He could run off the road and get back on and no one would be the wiser. 

I was driving to work and I noticed a car in the right lane that wasn’t going the speed limit.  When I pulled alongside the car it was a gentleman that looked to be about 95 and he wasn’t going the speed limit.  He was white knuckling the steering wheel and he was about 20mph under the speed limit and he was on a major freeway.  I started praying for him immediately. 

When I think about the number of elderly individuals on the highway it sometimes scares me.  I can remember when my grandmother got pulled over by a policeman.  Well, I can’t say pulled over because she ran a stop sign but she wouldn’t stop.  I am not sure if she ever looked in the rearview mirror to see the flashing lights or if she just wouldn’t stop until she got home.  The policeman had to follow her to her house to get her to stop. I admit there are some young drivers that are just as bad, what with texting and talking on the phone while driving.  I do talk on the phone while driving but I can barely spell on my phone so texting doesn’t occur with me while I am driving.    

When God created Adam and Eve there was no vehicle to drive them around the Garden of Eden. Can you imagine having nothing to do but walk around and tend the plants and animals in the Garden and spend time with God?  Then Adam and Eve listened to a snake and here we are. We are born new only to later grow old and forget which pedal is the brake or accelerator. I am so looking forward to heaven.  I read that there will be streets of gold and continuous light but I didn’t see a car dealership in the scenario so I don’t think we will need one.         

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I know that I am heading toward old age. I pray that when the time comes for me to quit driving that you will give me the courage to stop when it is time.  We are so dependent on vehicles to get us everywhere. I long for heaven where I won’t need to be rushing to the next appointment or meeting and where I will have all the time in the world to sit and talk to You. 

Scripture: “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.  But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.  Matthew 24:36-44

 

But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.  And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it.  Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.   But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. Revelation 21:22-27

The Flood

“You cannot come to Christ unless the Spirit of God brings you. But what if you ignore His warnings? Then you are in the gravest danger, for some day God will no longer be speaking to you. Then it will be too late. Come to Christ while there is still time. Christ, God's greater Ark, stands ready to welcome you to safety today.”  Billy Graham

I was a senior in high school when the great flood came.  Right about now you are asking, “What great flood”. 

I was born in the great state of Louisiana, home of the alligator, humidity, moccasins (snake that is), and rain and more rain.  We never had water restrictions in my home town.  We didn’t know what that was until we moved to Texas.    

Anyway, back to the great flood of 1980.  I was a senior in high school preparing for graduation.  Then the rains came.  Our graduation was going to be in Lake Charles, the nearest large town.  We were going to graduate at the Civic Center and rehearsal was scheduled for Friday evening. It started raining midweek and it didn’t stop.  We lived in the country and there was a bayou tributary that ran between our house and the main road in to town.  This tributary would often flood but it never came close to our house. 

This year that changed.  It started raining and the water rose and it rained some more and the water kept coming.  I can remember walking out the front door and seeing the water lapping onto the front porch and there was no sign of the rain stopping. As soon as we saw that we went to work.  We lived in a big two story house so every piece of furniture that would fit upstairs was hauled up.  Anything that didn’t fit upstairs was placed on top of paint cans.  The carpet was pulled up and moved upstairs. 

I will never forget walking downstairs the next morning and stepping off the last stair and into 2 inches of water.  The whole first floor was covered in water.  Our house had never been flooded by water so this was an event. The reason I call this the great flood is because my grandparents were driving from Austin to attend my graduation and they had to turn around and go back because portions of I-10 were underwater.  This is the southernmost transcontinental highway that stretches from the Pacific Ocean to Florida. When a major freeway is underwater that is a lot of rain.  By the way as a side note, my Dad had to take me in a boat to our car to get to graduation but I made it.

This story brought to mind Noah.  I grew up in a state that saw plenty of rain, but can you imagine Noah’s faith.  When God told him to build a boat and not just any boat but build a big boat, Noah’s faith didn’t waver. 

The neighbors wouldn’t think it was so strange if you built a boat that would hold one family and that you could hide behind the garage.  This was a boat that would hold 2 of every kind of animal on earth.  Can you imagine the neighbors looking out their window and their conversation about Noah?  It might go something like this.  “Hey honey, it looks like Noah is building a boat.  I wonder if it is going to be a fishing boat to take out to the lake.”  Several weeks later….”Honey I don’t think Noah is building a boat at all.   It looks like he might be building a McMansion.”  Two months later…. “Honey, that’s not a McMansion and it isn’t a fishing boat, it’s a cruise liner and there are animals lining up to get in. I always knew Noah was crazy and a little odd.  Why would he build a boat that large with no water in sight?  We sure have weird neighbors.”

When it comes to faith in God it doesn’t always make sense does it?  When we place our faith in God it is literally taking a leap of faith.  It is like walking to the edge of a cliff and stepping off.  Trust in God will always feel like that.  God can do great things through us when we have an amazing faith in Him.  God promised it won’t be a flood next time, it will be worse.  Are you ready?

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, many times my faith is shaken by things that happen in my life.  I want to have the faith that Noah had, the belief that You can do anything through me in Your Power.  When my faith wavers, please remind me that I can do anything through You and your strength.     

Scripture: Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.   So the Lord said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping thing and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.”  But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.  Genesis 6:5-8

Days Gone By

People nowadays take time far more seriously than eternity.  Thomas Kelly

When I was growing up we didn’t have much in the way of technology.  We had one TV, no computers, no cell phones and plenty of time on our hands.  The only thing we had to do living in the country was to make our own entertainment.  Growing up in that atmosphere taught me several things.  It taught me a great deal about life.

Every Saturday was mow the lawn day.  Our house was on five acres so that is a lot of mowing.  Everyone in the family got out and mowed or worked in the yard.  We had animals to take care of so there was feeding animals, collecting eggs and milking the cow.  I don’t remember ever saying that I was bored when I was growing up.  In the first place, if you ever said you were bored Dad and Mom would find you something to relieve your boredom.  We had a big fireplace in our den and we never bought firewood.  We cut down a tree on our property and chopped wood.  When you chopped wood you had to haul wood.  It comes in pretty handy having four children when you have as much going on as we did around our house. 

We had mayhaw trees on our property and one of my favorite memories was going to pick mayhaws.  The trees were on the 20 acres behind our house in the middle of the woods.  We would get buckets and pails and head out to pick mayhaws.  Do you know how many quality conversations you can have with your children when it is just you, them and nature?  We didn’t have iPods or iPhones that would allow you to bring the music with you.  So you didn’t have each kid with earbuds plugged into their ears listening to who knows what.  When we finished picking mayhaws we would go back to the house and help Mom make homemade jelly. 

We had blackberries that grew wild around our house and we would grab our buckets and go pick blackberries.  That meant homemade blackberry jelly or cobbler. Summer meant time spent outdoors.   

When I look at the world today, it makes me sad.  Some of us take vacations to get away from technology (email, text messages, phone calls etc…) and some of us even take technology with us on vacation. 

My husband and I were watching a baseball game on TV and have you ever noticed how many people are there in person but not even watching the game.  We saw several young people who were on their phones texting or tweeting or whatever it is you do when you are connected to the world wherever you go. 

When we realize that God time can be in the quiet of the day with nothing but nature around us, that is when we get closest to the One who created us.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, many times technology is our worst enemy.  We spend so much time texting, tweeting and communicating through technology, that we are creating a generation that doesn’t know how to communicate socially with others much less with You.  I am guilty of using the technology of this world as an escape from everyday life.  If I want to gain wisdom sometimes it means setting aside the technology of the world and spending time with You. 

Scripture:  Take Up the Cross and Follow Him

Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father’s, and of the holy angels.  But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God.”  Luke 9:23-27

Believing In God

Trials should not surprise us, or cause us to doubt God's faithfulness. Rather, we should actually be glad for them. God sends trials to strengthen our trust in him so that our faith will not fail. Our trials keep us trusting; they burn away our self confidence and drive us to our Saviour.  Edmund Clowney

My husband was reading the paper this weekend and he read an article that he wanted me to read.  It was a very short commentary that you would have missed if you weren’t paying attention. 

There was a gentleman who stated that he was raised to believe in God but after seeing all the tragedies, wars and inhuman things that happen he doesn’t believe in God anymore. 

This was the start of a conversation for us.  We discussed how we couldn’t understand thinking that way about God.  The sad reality is God is not at fault here in the world we live in.  The problem with some of the thinking in today’s society is that many people don’t understand the concept of living in a fallen world.  It is true that we weren’t the ones in the Garden of Eden who ate the apple.  But we are the descendants of Adam and Eve.  We suffer the consequences of living in this fallen world. 

There are consequences for behavior whether it is good behavior or bad.  Too many times we don’t want the consequences from our sinful behavior.  If God didn’t love us he wouldn’t have destroyed the earth by flood, yet he saved Noah and his family. God wouldn’t keep trying to draw us back to Him if he didn’t love us sin and all.  God also would not have created a plan for our redemption.  When Christ died on the cross He gave up His life for us so we could be redeemed.  Our return to the Father is a choice and each of us has the opportunity to choose a life in heaven or a life in hell. 

God didn’t create us to be puppets.  If we consider it from the point of view that God wants us to come to Him of our own free will and that unless we do that we will not truly love Him for who He is, it takes on a different perspective.  The kind of love God wants from us will not come if we are forced into it.  The kind of love God describes in the Bible is a love that through hardship will become stronger on the other side of war, disease and the inhuman things people do to each other.  If our road is paved with no sorrow, pain or loss, how can we possibly love God to the extent that we love Him above anything here on earth? 

Wisdom doesn’t come from the smooth highway.  It comes from being off the beaten path.  It’s the bumps and dips and valleys that will teach us who God is and why He allows us to go through the trials of everyday life.   

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I was saddened to read the article about the gentleman who had given up on You.  I prayed for him because he doesn’t understand the true meaning of loving You.  You don’t allow me to go through the tragedies of life so that I will be beaten down.  If I understand that each trial is an opportunity for me to grow closer to You, then I have learned the important lesson of loving You, My Heavenly Father.  Thank You for the trials because I would not know You the way I do without them.

Scripture:  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

Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.  But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.  Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.  Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures.   James 1:12-18