Thursday, August 27, 2009

Sad Times

Well, Amy left to go back to Princeton yesterday. As sad as I am, I think Kizzy may be having a harder time adjusting. Every time we come back to the house she runs around and looks for Amy and Calvin. When has done her search, she comes over and looks at me with these "what have I done to deserve this" eyes.

I wonder if that is how God feels when He visits our church services and looks for His children and can't find them there? He looks all over the building to be sure and then is sad because His children choose to be off doing other things rather than worshiping Him.

What do we have to do that is more important that worship? Oh, we can blame sports or family or whatever, but the bottom line is that worship is no longer a priority for many of God's children. We can blame society for this, but the fact is, we STILL have a choice. Will we honor God or will we let the world take us away from worship? It is our choice. For God's sake, make the right one!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Scary Times

Kizzy left the yard yesterday to chase something up the hill. Amy called her but she didn't come back. Amy then yelled for me to come out and help. I didn't know where she was, so all I could do was call for her. As I called and waited (getting a bit worried) I finally saw her come running back from around the building next door. You can only imagine my joy and relief.

I believe that is a bit like God who calls us to him and is overjoyed when we respond! Think of the parables of the Lost Sheep, Lost Coin and Lost Son. All these relate the joy in something that was lost being found.

God loves you and wants you to come running to Him (just as Kizzy came running to me) when He calls. If you haven't responded to His call, don't you think it is time to drop everything and come running? I do!

Monday, August 17, 2009

Heat

Summer has officially arrived in Stillwater. It is too hot to think in my office! I am trying to work on my next "Basic Training" sermon. It was going to be about God the Father and maybe the Holy Spirit (Jesus was yesterday). Now I think I may preach about Hell! I am pretty sure that my office is nearly hot enough to qualify today.

Ok, Ok, enough whining. We have had a relatively mild summer so I really shouldn't complain, but sometimes I complain anyway. We are never happy. If it is cold we wish it was hot; if it is hot we wish it was cold. It is time I remembered what Paul said--to be CONTENT in whatever circumstance I find myself in.

Contentment can be elusive. We think, "If I just had this or that, I would be content." Then we get this or that and we think, If I just had this other thing, then I'd be content." The truth of the matter is that contentment is not about things, but about how we appreciate the things we already have. I'm blessed. I have a great wife. I live in a wonderful town. I also get to see the beauty of nature every day. Why should I not be content? Because I am a fallen human and until I learn to to completely trust God in ALL things I will never be content.

Well, I have made my decision. I am going to be content! I have all that God wants me to have and nothing that He doesn't want me to have. Who could ask for more? Not me! Count your blessings and have a God blessed day!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

The Truck

Well, the truck God provided (though the generosity of an elder at SPC) is now good to go. New tires, new brakes, new spark plugs and wires plus a few other things and it passed inspection with flying colors!

I have already used it to get the bicycles up from Princeton and I am sure it will come in handy often for other jobs like that. It is amazing how God works for us and how we often overlook His guiding Hand in our lives. As I said in an earlier post, I was not happy to make a "useless" trip into New York to look at a truck that ended up being sold while we were on the way to see it, but it WAS God directing the path. I now have a serviceable truck for less than half the money I was planning to spend.

How many times do we get mad at God because He doesn't answer our prayers the way we expect Him to? We don't have a clue was is best for us and He does. Therefore, don't let your preconceived notions of how God should answer our prayers get in the way of our thankfullness when He does answer them (just not the way we expected!)

Kepp on praying and keep on trusting God to give you the right answer!

Sunday, August 9, 2009

Julie & Julia

Yesterday I went with Amy to see the Movie Julie& Julia. I really enjoyed the film. One of the interesting parts for me was how Julie's attitude changed as she gained confidence in preparing the recipes from Julia Child's cookbook.

I reminds me of how we, as Christians, can gain confidence by reading and DOING what the Word of God tells us to do. We start out with the "easy" things and move on to the more difficult ones. Just as Julie worked her way up to the final recipe, we work our way up to the final test. God has something for all of us to accomplish--we simply have to be open and aware of His leading.

So, get out God's cookbook (the Bible) and start trying out the recipes!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

The Life Is In The Blood

Leviticus 17:11; 14 and Deuteronomy 12:23 reminds us that the life of the creature is in the blood. That is why I am so proud of Amy today. She is headed to Princeton (about a 4 hour round trip) to give blood at PTS. She signed up to do this a while back and probably didn't realize that she would be in Stillwater when the time came to donate, but that isn't going to stop her!

Giving blood is a great way to help others in need. But there is a Blood that is much more important to the world that we need to share--the Blood of Christ. It is His blood that cleanses us from all unrighteousness. If Christians were half as concerned about sharing the news of the blood of Christ as they are about giving their own blood, we would see a major shift in this world. It is Christ's Blood that will heal the nations.

Don't get me wrong, I really think we should all donate blood (and in my case I am also lined up to be an organ donor), but I think that we should take that same steadfast approach to sharing the "Good News" to those around us of the Blood that saves.

We live is turbulent times. Right is taught as wrong and wrong is taught as right. It is high time we began to not just "know" the right things to do, but to actually "do" them! One of those right things to do is to let Jesus shine through us and to share the Message of God's love demonstrated by the willingness of Jesus shed blood. As James tells us, "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says!"