Hello my friends!! Today Darla bought a new Ford Focus - it was the most comfortable car we test drove! It's a pretty blue - called Candy blue. Now she has a more comfortable car to drive home in with her husband, Greg. I'm starting today in freezing the strawberries, got a quart froze now, everyday I get a bunch! What wonderful berries they are, nice a big too! I even think about those chocolate covered strawberries - maybe? We'll see. I praise God for all our blessings we receive daily! Praying for all of your needs!! Thanks for your prayers for us.
No one can live for himself alone for then he will have no purpose in life.
To give
of self is one of life's greatest joys and blesses us with a full and rich
life. Lord, help
me to be selfless and loving to those around me.
Scripture for the day:
"O give thanks to the LORD, call on his name, make known his deeds
among the peoples. Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his
wonderful works. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who
seek the LORD rejoice. Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his
presence continually." ~Psalm 105:1-4
Meditation for the day:
We can seek God early in the day, before God gets crowded out by life's
problems, difficulties or pleasures. In that early quiet time we can
gain a calm, strong confidence in the goodness and purpose in the
universe. We need not seek God only when the world's struggles prove
too much and too many for us to bear or face alone. We can seek God
early, when we can have a consciousness of God's spirit in the world.
Sometimes we seek God only when our difficulties are too great to be
surmounted in any other way, forgetting that if we sought God's
companionship before we needed it, many of our difficulties would never
arise in the first place!
Prayer for the day:
I pray that I may not let God be crowded out by the busyness of life.
I pray that I may seek God early and often.
O Holy St. Anthony, gentlest of Saints, your love for God and Charity for
His creatures, made you worthy, when on earth, to possess miraculous powers.
Encouraged by this thought, I implore you to obtain for me [your request
here]. O gentle and loving St. Anthony, whose heart was ever full of human
sympathy, whisper my petition into the ears of the sweet Infant Jesus, who
loved to be folded in your arms; and the gratitude of my heart will ever be
yours.
Amen.
IF YOU ARE GOING TO FLY
By Larry Davies
There is a parable about a wild goose shot down by a local hunter.
Only wounded in one wing, he landed safely in a barnyard. Naturally
the local turkeys and chickens were quite startled by this sudden
visitor from the sky. As they became more comfortable with this
stranger, however, it was only natural to ask about what they had seen
but never experienced: "Tell us what it's like to fly?"
"It's wonderful!" said the Goose who told story after story of his
flights. "It's beautiful to soar out in the wild blue yonder! Why this
barn looks only an inch high and all of you look like tiny specks from
such a distance. First you fly high and then you can glide and enjoy
the astonishing scenery."
All the birds were quite impressed by the goose's stories. Later they
asked him to tell more stories about flying. Soon, it became a weekly
event for the goose to entertain all the barnyard birds with his
stories. They even provided a little box for him to stand so everyone
could see him better.
But the strangest thing happened or maybe I should say… never
happened. While the domestic birds very much enjoyed hearing about the
glories of flight, they never tried to fly themselves. And the wild
goose, even though his wing healed, continued to talk about flying but
never actually flew again.
As pastor of a church, I find this parable frightening. Why? Because
it hits too close to home. How easy it is to talk about being a
Christian without acting like one. How easy it is to stand in church
and say, "Jesus is Lord," without actually turning our lives over to
His direction. How easy it is to sit in our comfortable seats and
ignore a world in desperate need of our witness. How easy it is as a
minister to talk about ministry without actually doing it. It's easy
to talk but you must really flap those wings to fly.
Jesus spoke to his disciples about what it takes to actually fly and
follow Him: "`If any of you wants to be my follower,' he told them,
`you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and
follow me. If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose
it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the
Good News, you will find true life.'" (Mark 8:34-35)
"Shoulder your cross and follow me." Other versions of the Bible
quote: "Take up your cross and follow me." I used to think the cross
stood for the pain of being a Christian. In other words: "If you
really want to follow me, you must be willing to endure pain and
suffering." This is not an exciting thought and also not completely
true. Although pain strikes all of us, it's not what Jesus had in
mind. If this were about pain we would be keeping `pain' diaries to
see which one suffered most: `pain' winners go to heaven.
So, what does it truly mean to `shoulder your cross and follow
Christ?'
Well, you're not going to believe this but I think Jesus is talking
about flying.
"What? Larry, have you lost your mind? Where is flying mentioned in
the Bible?"
Jesus is talking about being committed to your mission. Jesus accepted
the suffering because that was his mission. The cross was Jesus
Christ's ultimate mission and he was committed to seeing it through to
the end. A bird's mission is to fly but you must first be committed to
the work and effort of flapping your wings over and over
until you learn to fly. Our decision to take up the cross and follow
God regardless of the cost is our cross and our commitment to flap our
wings until we finally fly.
But flying is the best part. It may be safer to stay in the barnyard
but look at what you will miss. What would it be like to truly soar
and ride the air currents? If we live always so carefully protecting
and watching our own self-interests, making no effort for anyone but
ourselves we'll miss the best part of life: Knowing our mission and
having the inner satisfaction of carrying it out to the best of our
ability.
A song in the musical "Godspell" said it best: "Day by day, day by
day: Oh, dear Lord, three things I pray: to see thee more clearly,
love thee more dearly, follow thee more nearly, day by day. If we
learn from God to see more clearly, love more dearly and follow more
nearly we will take our cross and fly.
STOLEN CAR
(A Lesson For All Of Us)
-author unknown
I was sitting at a stop light this morning. The lady in front of me
was going through papers on the seat of her car, and when the
light changed to green she did not obey its command -- a green
light is a commandment - NOT a suggestion.
When the light turned to red, and she had still not moved, I began
(with my windows up) screaming epithets and beating on my steering
wheel. My expressions of distress were interrupted by a policeman,
gun drawn, tapping on my window. Against my protestations of, "You
can't arrest me for hollering in my car," he ordered me into the back
seat of his squad car.
After about two hours in a holding cell, the arresting officer advised
me I was free to go. I said, "I knew you couldn't arrest me for what
I was yelling in my own car. You haven't heard the last of this."
The officer replied, "I didn't arrest you for shouting in your car. I
was directly behind you at the light. I saw you screaming and beating
your steering wheel, and I said to myself, "What a jerk. But there is
nothing I can do to him for throwing a fit in his own car. Then I
noticed the 'Cross' hanging from your rear view mirror, the bright
yellow 'Choose Life' license tag, the 'Jesus is Coming Soon' bumper
sticker, and the Fish symbol, and I thought you must have stolen the
car."
CAN YOU RELATE?
Author Un known
I drive into work listening to gospel music or a pre-recorded sermon
on the radio. I get out of the car and walk to the building entrance.
As I open the building door I leave just enough room for me to get in
and I leave Jesus standing outside as the door closes behind me. He's
standing with His palms on the door glass and watches me as I get on
the elevator.
His eyes are sad and He turns and goes to sit on the stone bench.
There He'll sit patiently and wait for me for the next 9 hours.
First two hours of work - I fuss and complain about things not going
right. Jesus, sitting with his chin in His hand looks upward toward
the building wishing He could help me.
By lunch time - I'm flustered, regretting I work in this place and
sputtering bitterness all over folks.
Jesus comes around to the side of the building where my cubicle is
located. He looks up from the ground trying to get my attention but I
can't hear him; my focus is on my problems.
Jesus goes back to the front of the building, sits down and continues
to wait for me. He thinks to Himself as He looks up to the third
floor, "She went in there defenseless. If only she had taken me in
there with her. When will she learn?"
End of the day - I'm pooped, run down, no energy, irritable &
frustrated. I leave the building & Jesus gets up happily to greet me
but I'm in no mood for Him now. I've just been to h ell and back and
the last thing I want to do is be bothered with anyone.
God just actually showed me this is how I'VE been acting. He showed me
each act and worst of all, He let Me feel a small portion of how
grieved he was because of my actions and attitude. I left Jesus
standing outside, almost let the door smack him in His face.
From time to time our jobs overwhelm us and we completely forget to
"take Jesus with us". We may not go around cursing anyone out or
punching anyone in the face (hopefully not) but what are our actions
saying about us and about who or whose we are?
We are the salt of the Earth and the light of the world. A city on a
hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under
a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to
everyone in the house. Matt. 5:13-15.
We should be bringing peace to our jobs and not be the cause of
confusion. We should be the ones to bring our gifts & talents to the
table to help in WHATEVER area God has chosen for us to work in.
Col.3:23-24- "Whatever you do, work at it with ALL your heart, as
working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will
receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord
Christ you are serving."
God Bless you all!!
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STRENGTH AND COURAGE
It takes strength to be firm.
It takes courage to be gentle.
It takes strength to stand guard.
It takes courage to let down your guard.
It takes strength to conquer
It takes courage to surrender.
It takes strength to be certain.
It takes courage to have doubt.
It takes strength to fit in.
It takes courage to stand out.
It takes strength to feel a friend's pain.
It takes courage to feel your own pain.
It takes strength to hide feelings.
It takes courage to show them.
It takes strength to endure abuse.
It takes courage to stop it.
It takes strength to stand alone.
It takes courage to lean on another.
It takes strength to love.
It takes courage to be loved.
It takes strength to survive.
It takes courage to live.
"....as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor
forsake you. Be strong and of good courage...." (Joshua 1:5b-6a)
-- Author Unknown
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