Lessons of Life...

Learn a lesson from a dog...

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Eyes fixed on the prize...

Oh yes!!

Oh dear...

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Things are not always what you think they'll be.

What are you striving for?

Triumphant Tale

If you want to read a triumphant tale, read Isaiah 29.

It starts out pretty depressing... Woe to David’s city, woe to it’s inhabitants!

Workers of iniquity, blind eyes, thirsting lips, empty souls...

Her enemies, many. Her walls, rubble.

Her prophets, deaf and dumb... Their prophecies, null.

Heads spinning, feet staggering, and hearts far away...

But then comes verse 17.

And it’s as if the prophet lifts his eyes from the here and now, and sees the gleams of a golden morning.

The deaf will hear, the blind will see...

And the darkness? Gone... gone!

Oh, dear child of the Highest... Lift up your eyes.

Behold the morning!

There’s always one coming, you know. It matters not how dark and cold the night. No night has ever been so dark that morning could not come. And no morning has ever been delayed even a second past its appointed time.

We just need to see through darkness.

And want more good news?

The night is always followed by the morning... But the morning will not always be followed by night.

Light will win in the end...

With My Whole Heart...

"The faces of men and women who walk and work with God express the peace of heaven.

They are surrounded with the atmosphere of heaven.

For these souls, the kingdom of God has begun.

They have Christ's joy, the joy of being a blessing to humanity."

Just one more reason...

One more reason to give my whole heart.

Here's to all my friends from the Northeast Youth Retreat--

Your hearts and lives are forever bound with my prayers. My heart is with you, because your victory, your success, your confidence and your happiness, are my treasures.

And where one's treasure is, there one's heart is also.

Let's pray for each other on the 17th.

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Every Time!

I've seldom seen a sky so blue, smelled air so sweet, felt the sun so perfectly warm... and been perfectly oblivious to it. That is, until I saw the light...

I was on the hillside airing my brain with prayers and a journal. Hours of work behind me, hours still ahead... The snow still 8 inches deep in spots around me, my mind 1,000 miles away. One word kept coming up... Impossible.

For a time, I prayed and prayed... And then I walked off of the hillside, ready.

That's when I stepped in the entry door to find Tasha in the final stages of lunch prep.

"I've just got one question, and my question is this: When irresistible power meets immovable object, who wins?"

She stopped mid-step and looked at me. (I love that look...) Silence. One hand on the Vita-Mix, the other on a bag of frozen tropical fruit. Then, a smile...

"Irresistible Power."

Now it's my turn...
"Every time."

"Oh, that's awesome..." (in the true sense of the word)...


Yes. I'm thankful...

Nobility

Nobility...

Today’s prevalent interpretation of that term lands us on a set of actions. To be noble is to be gentle, honorable, worthy, generous, sacrificing... It’s about character. And indeed, a noble person is loved, esteemed and respected because they are few and far between... Everyone wants to claim them as a friend.

I read this morning that “The highest evidence of nobility in the Christian is self-control.”

“Self control??” Yeah... I’ve read it before. Perhaps you have too.

But wait, there’s that other meaning of nobility... Not the description of actions, but the state of being. Recall our word comes from an old French one, which in turn came from a Latin one meaning “highborn”. We're not just talking about what you do, but who you are.

So is self-control is the highest evidence of our kinship with the King? An attestation of royalty?

That's what I read...

So Many Faces...

From a conference dripping with miracles I return a stronger man, a more exuberant Christian, a humbled, baffled, incredulous, encouraged, inspired child of the God Who never tires of giving... As if I really deserved anything from His hand in the first place!

There were so many faces... Thousands of windows to souls I know nothing about... But then there were probably 1,000 that I did know... and do love. So many smiles! So many transformations... And then there were a few faces that told special stories I'll long remember... Like the one that smiled through tears when I talked about heaven. And the one that laughed and cried at once. And the one that flushed undiluted earnestness and devotion while praying for a miracle...

Yes, Jesus gives... Jesus loves! And never has my heart loved His more.

And shame? Yes. Shame on being afraid to own Him! Shame on trying to walk without Him! If any will glory, glory in the cross...

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Here are a few more faces... from around this big country we call our home. Some think "Oklahoma Family Campmeeting," some think "Youth for Jesus 2009"...

We think--

"Reunion"

The Ultimate Self-Sacrifice...

Ok, get this...

The greatest prophet that ever lived finds himself confined to the solitude of a dungeon cell in Herod’s impregnable fortress... Yet, notwithstanding the darkness, the damp, his bodily suffering, his loneliness, his uncertainty, it is his heart that is pained most of all. And this time, it’s not because his followers have forgotten him, but rather because they haven’t...

I just read in Desire of Ages this morning that John the Baptist was pained because his disciples’ affection for him was slowing them up from receiving Jesus... It’s as if he would rather dispense with their love and die friendless than steal influence from the One he was about to give his life for... Oh, he was not always without questions of his own, but his loyalty never wavered...

That’s the ultimate self-sacrifice...

And how can I do any less? Oh Jesus, let me never accept affections that should be Yours...

Forgotten...

For as long as I can remember, I've prayed a prayer something like this:

"Oh, cover me with the shadow of Your wings... I want my self to be hidden. I want people to see You in me..."

A worthy prayer, it seems... Indeed, I still pray it. But lately I've been thinking, and I've changed the wording just a little bit...

I want nothing more than to come to the end of my day (every day), and have the assurance that someone, somewhere, loves Jesus more because I lived that day. When I have that assurance, no day is too dark to be worth living...

But there's only one way to accomplish that. Ask for His eyes, His heart, His love, His life...

Be His ambassador. Don't be afraid of sacrifice. Forget yourself...

Ahh! but see, there it is! Forget... Wouldn't you rather be a Christian who forgets himself completely in the presence of his God, rather than one who walks through life toting self all around town in a suitcase, hidden all nicely, but available in case of dire extremity? I sure would...

That's why I changed my prayer--

"Cover me with the shadow of Your wings... I want my self to be forgotten... "

Forever

"Till heaven and earth pass away" and then beyond... His righteousness will remain.

It shall forever be to His children a source of strength, and an eternal safeguard.

Like a mountain unmovable is our God...

We cannot rise without Him underneath us; He cannot lift us without our consent.

Get up and climb...

He will never give out on you.

You are the salt... Yes, you.

I’m not sure about you, but there have been few kitchen crises more memorable to me than the times we’ve run entirely out of salt... (Living 2 hours from Wal Mart does have it’s disadvantages...)

Well, life without love is like food without salt. Only, you and I are the salt.

Salt does lots of things, a few jump out at me this morning...

Salt is an intensifier...

Without it, porridge is not as tasty, candy is not as sweet, bread tastes empty, potatoes, tofu, & rice... blah! But add a little, and all the best comes alive...

That’s our job. By our influence the best should be brought out in people. We should be intensifiers (advocates, proponents) of every sweet, and pure, and holy, and beautiful thing. Jesus was...

Everything salt touches, changes...

That’s power! And that’s our job too. Leave no spot untouched for the kingdom of Heaven... And when we are His hands, what we touch, His Spirit will change.

And though it has no heat of it’s own, it melts ice...

Oh, I love this one. Sweet Jesus, use me! I have nothing worthy of my own, even to give to You... How then can it be that you will use little me to break hearts of stone, and melt the strongest, coldest, blackest lie...?

Ahh, the mystery of Love! Thy ways are too high for me...

Thanks for loving me. I love You too...