Category: Blog Article

Our mouths can really screw us up don’t you think? We mean one thing but yet something else comes out. I want my mouth to be loaded with an “auto-rewind” feature complete with a “memory erase” button for those I am talking to. In this age of techno-talk I would think it’s totally possible, don’t you? Picture the conversation….you get input from someone and merely reply, “Hold on while I filter possible answers through my lip gear.” After speaking from your fleshly lips, if there is any sense you didn’t speak correctly you merely push the appropriate button saving your butt from the ultimate “faux pas”.
James 3:8 (The Message) but you can’t tame the tongue – it’s never been done. The tongue runs wild, a wanton killer.

Rebuilding Iraq is a common phrase we hear almost daily in a news snippet. My own thoughts sway like a pendulum between “squandering dollars” to “helping those in need”. It can be difficult to understand the truth of what is really happening on this foreign soil if all I can get for input is what’s on Fox News or the repetitive chatter of CNN.

I am blessed now and again by personal notes from friends who have family stationed in the distressed areas. Personal stories of helping real people, not just marionettes in some puppet theater.

Unlike Saddam Hussein who tried to rebuild the city of Babylon upon the old ruins, there is real hope for those who seek actual rebuilding of ourselves, but the bricks must be laid upon the cornerstone of faith.

Zec 10:4

From Judah will come the cornerstone, from him the tent peg, from him the battle bow, from him every ruler.

There are many times when we want to do something nice for others and yet when we check out the motivations within our own hearts, things become suspect don’t they? I am not talking about the buying someone a cup of tea or perhaps a soda from one of those vending machines. I’m talking about the real giving, the kind that hurts in some way or another. Those are the moments that truly test our character don’t they?

Suddenly we start doing the inventory of how much this gift cost us or if we are really in a twist we can even wonder what we may receive in return for our consideration. Honestly I find these moments to be a plumb line for what is really lurking inside the inner chambers, away from prying eyes. When I am able to give, even when it costs me something, and I still have a grin on my face and cheer in my heart then I know I am maturing!

2Sa 24:24 But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them.

There’s a guy out there singing my heart…that is if I could actually express myself in a musical sense. Shawn McDonald gives life to the words living in my own heart and head with his lyrics for “Take My Hand”.

Take my hand to the promise land
And on You I want to stand
‘Cause I cannot do it all on my own
You’re what I need and I need to be
Right by Your side ‘cause I cannot hide
Lord, I know that I need You……

 

Without You I’m so alone
I am weak but You are strong
You pick me up when I’m falling down
And I am crying
Out to You inside of my heart
I need You, Lord, oh so, for the part
I want You to have my life, Jesus
I fall to my knees
And I’m begging You, please, oh, Lord
Won’t You change me
Make me new from the inside out
I want to shout out Your name,

When one puts their heart up for a fight, the target practice commences! I am taking hits for sure but my battle gear is not your normal stuff.

Eph 6:10-11 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.

I have been carrying something rather large upon my back for a while and yet it didn’t ever feel too heavy until recently. Now I just need to relax long enough to put it down and walk away.

So what are you carrying around?

I love waking up with anticipation in my heart! This morning my alarm clock never beeped yet I could sense my Father’s presence so I got up very early. Anxiously I will greet the sunrise and on my lips will be words of joy to speak out into the atmosphere.

Psalm 118:24 This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Does anyone remember those “Highlander” movies? They were pretty much geared for the testosterone audience, especially men who wanted to wield heavy swords and wreak carnage on an obvious bad guy. It drew the chicks in too because the guy could love an “older woman” to her dying breath, a feat not often seen in our news headlines of today’s world.

I can remember a line that was repeated over and over in its theme, “there can be only one!” Living in a pop culture society, I am inundated with such references but something in this sentence captivated my inner child. I was also fascinated by the “quickening” scenes where lightning flashed and the resonance smashed every window within a few hundred feet.

As my purpose in life is exposed I am still fascinated by these same things. “There is only one” true Lord and each time He comes near to me, my inner spirit is “quickened” in such a way I can sense the darkness being smashed by beams of light far beyond those small special effects I watched years back.

Eph 4:4-6 There is one body and one Spirit-just as you were called to one hope when you were called-one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

As time passes we all notice the truth in changing seasons. Part of those changes relate to people who come in and out of our lives. Several years ago I was quite close to a friend who impressed upon me questions and hope simply by telling me about a life changing event he’d had.

When I met him he didn’t practice a faith outwardly of any kind other than to absolutely know there was life after death. He was so sure of it, he had a cavalier attitude towards life, but not in a reckless regard. I had to ask him why he believed there was more than just dying. What he told me would never leave my memory. My retelling is vague on details but then it didn’t happen to me. This is merely as I remember our conversations. I apologize to my friend if I butchered his tale.

He had been an altar boy (mind you I had no idea what that meant) and around the age of six, while riding his bike one day he was hit by a car. He died there but didn’t realize it until afterwards. His memory was of himself being able to look down over the scene with people gathered about his body and he could remember his mother crying. He couldn’t understand why his mother was so sad.

His next memory was walking with a grandfather he hadn’t met before, but he simply knew who he was. As they walked and talked this grandfather figure asked him if he could see anything he wanted what would it be? The boy answered, “blue roses” and his request was answered. He marveled at being able to see “blue roses”. His grandfather told him he had to go back and my friend was returned to his body.

I share his conversation not to hype the “life after death” story since all who have real faith understand this to be fact. Why I share it is because of the many questions it brought into my life very young when I was merely partying and thinking there was no God and no purpose. The simple telling of one’s “life experience” was one of the strongest witnesses I had ever encountered. This man never tried to get me to go to church or believe in Jesus, he simply shared his story and refused to budge from the fact “there is life after death” and thus he had nothing to fear in death.

His story changed my outlook. It made me ask questions and it gave me hope! I suddenly saw there might be more to this life than what I had been living. His story helped me pick up my bible years later to find out why he believed he saw “blue roses”.

One of my favorite things to do is hang out with my best friend. That would be my husband. He is such a calming spirit to me and I can relax in his presence. Not a high maintenance kind of personality. Our lives have the usual pace to them most are familiar with; lot’s of work interspersed with personal commitments. Occasionally we can only see each other for a couple hours a day before it’s off to bed to start again.

I think our heavenly Father was really on to something wonderful when He set aside that “day of rest”. Now all I have to do is remember what it was for and not try to fill it up with chores to prepare for the next week.