Drop Kick Me Jesus Through The Goal Posts Of Life!

Funny how sometimes when God impacts us it is not at all as to what we had expected or hoped for. It certainly is not always a warm fuzzy. Nor is it a "bed of roses."

There are times when going forward with God is down right painful. Or as is depicted in the photo... "It is in your face!"

Nevertheless, I will bless His Holy name! As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.

The Ninth Century Sufi, Bayazid Bastami, says this about himself: “I was a revolutionary when I was young and all my prayer to God was, ‘Lord give me the energy to change the world.

“As I approached middle age and realized that half my life was gone without my changing a single soul, I changed my prayer to, ‘Lord, give me the grace to change all those who come in contact with me. Just my family and friends, and I shall be content.’

“Now that I am an old man and my days are numbered, my prayer now is, ‘Lord, give me the grace to change myself.’ If I had prayed for this right from the start I should have not wasted my life.”

The "Go" of Renunciation

. . . someone said to Him, ’Lord, I will follow You wherever You go’ —Luke 9:57

Our Lord’s attitude toward this man was one of severe discouragement, "for He knew what was in man" ( John 2:25 ). We would have said, "I can’t imagine why He lost the opportunity of winning that man! Imagine being so cold to him and turning him away so discouraged!" Never apologize for your Lord. The words of the Lord hurt and offend until there is nothing left to be hurt or offended. Jesus Christ had no tenderness whatsoever toward anything that was ultimately going to ruin a person in his service to God. Our Lord’s answers were not based on some whim or impulsive thought, but on the knowledge of "what was in man." If the Spirit of God brings to your mind a word of the Lord that hurts you, you can be sure that there is something in you that He wants to hurt to the point of its death.

Luke 9:58 . These words destroy the argument of serving Jesus Christ because it is a pleasant thing to do. And the strictness of the rejection that He demands of me allows for nothing to remain in my life but my Lord, myself, and a sense of desperate hope. He says that I must let everyone else come or go, and that I must be guided solely by my relationship to Him. And He says, ". . . the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head."

Luke 9:59 . This man did not want to disappoint Jesus, nor did he want to show a lack of respect for his father. We put our sense of loyalty to our relatives ahead of our loyalty to Jesus Christ, forcing Him to take last place. When your loyalties conflict, always obey Jesus Christ whatever the cost.

Luke 9:61 . The person who says, "Lord, I will follow You, but . . .," is the person who is intensely ready to go, but never goes. This man had reservations about going. The exacting call of Jesus has no room for good-byes; good-byes, as we often use them, are pagan, not Christian, because they divert us from the call. Once the call of God comes to you, start going and never stop.

The above is From the writings of Oswald Chambers

We Don't Always "Get It"

There was a man who was asleep one night in his cabin when suddenly his roomfilled with light and the Savior appeared. The Lord told the man He had awork for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. TheLord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might.This the man did, day after day.

For many years he toiled from sun up to sundown, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of theunmoving rock pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned to hiscabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.Seeing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, Satan decided toenter the picture placing thoughts into the man's mind such as; "You have beenpushing against that rock for a long time and it hasn't budged. Why killyourself over this? You are never going to move it? etc."

This gave the man the impression that the task was impossible and that hewas a failure. These thoughts discouraged and disheartened the man even more. "Why killmyself over this?" he thought. "I'll just put in my time, giving just theminimum of effort and that will be good enough." And that he planned to dountil one day he decided to make it a matter of Prayer and take his troubledthoughts to the Lord."Lord" he said, "I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all mystrength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I havenot even budged that rock a half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am Ifailing?"

To this the Lord responded compassionately, "My friend, when long ago I askedyou to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to pushagainst the rock with all your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to me, your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But,is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, yourback brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much and your abilities now surpass thatwhich you used to have. Yet you haven't moved the rock. BUT YOUR CALLING WAS TO BE OBEDIENT, TO PUSH AND TO EXERCISE YOUR FAITH AND TRUST IN MY WISDOM,this you have done.

I, my friend, I will now move the rock."

Psalms 19:1
The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork.

Kids Ask The Darndest Things

"Hey dad, why do you give the waitress 15% and God only gets 10%"?


This my friends is a great question. We often think nothing of giving a complete stranger a "tip" for services provided. On the other hand we debate wheter God's 10% is off the gross or the take home amount and in some cases the left over after paying the bills. Funny how a $36.00 DVD set is easy to purchase while giving God 10% of a $360.00 pay check is a struggle. Perhaps instead of tithes (10%) we should give God tips for services rendered. Ouch that is a whole lot more..... Thank God He only requires 10% (that is even less then the Canadian Revenue Services requires.....

Are You Salty Enough?

It might have seemed ridiculous for Jesus to say to a handful of ordinary men, "You are the salt of the earth" Yet that little band, that pinch of salt, started something that has changed the history of mankind.Our Lord used very simple figures of speech. Nothing is plainer, more universal and old-fashioned than salt. It is such a common commodity that we take it for granted, but if suddenly no salt could be had, what a difference that would make!

What would life be without salt!

A little boy said, "Salt is what tastes bad when you don't have it."

Salt has a seasoning influence: There ought to be a flavor and a zest about us Christians. Our main trouble today is not that our doctrine is false, but that our experience is flat.

Salt preserves: Salt prevents decay and restrains corruption. One godly person in a group will restrain evil conversation.

Salt purifies and cleanses: The best gargle for a sore throat is pain salt water. The church of Jesus Christ has a purifying influence. You may think that our community is in a bad state, but take out the church and you would not want to live there.

Salt heals: Lives are changed, souls saved, homes rescued from disaster, broken hearts mended, sorrows eased, burdens lifted, sick bodies and minds made well because of the antiseptic and therapeutic power of the Holy Spirit working through God's people, the salt of the earth.

Salt creates thirst: We ought to live in such a way that others would want the peace and joy they see in us. Does anybody want to be a Christian like you?

Salt irritates: When the salt of God's truth is rubbed into this diseased old world, sick souls may smart. When the light is turned on, some will wince. The devil hates the Gospel and fights back… We are not the sugar of the earth - we are salt! We will not be welcomed by a generation full of open wounds.
We need to get into the salt business. It sounds old-fashion, but salt is old-fashioned, sin is old-fashioned and so is the Gospel.
We have been tickling palates with fancy flavors, spicy relishes, and spicy recipes borrowed from the world. Too many pulpit gourmets deal with menus from Hollywood, trying to please the jaded appetites of a fed up humanity.
We need old-fashioned salt, and if we do not start producing more of it in our churches, we shall be good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men.

A note of encouagement....

The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladnes; he will quiet you by his love;

Zephaniah 3:17-20 The LORD your God in the midst of you [is] mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over you with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over you with singing. I will gather [them that are] sorrowful…. Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict you: and I will save her that is lame, and gather her that was driven out; and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame. At that time will I bring you [again], even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, says the LORD.

Psalms 119:103 How sweet are Your words to my taste! Yes , sweeter than honey to my mouth!

O' that we would consider the Word of God to be that delightful. O' that we would crave it like the bear, considering the bee stings to be but a small price to pay for the sweet, pure, life giving nectar.

Getting Ready To JUMP!

Sometimes when life gets to serious we need to revert to our childhood past times... skipping and jumping, and all of that for no paticular reason except that you can!

Matthew 18:4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Take A Walk On The Wild Side

Blown Away By God's Creativity!

I found the most incredible rock formations just minutes from our house. Does anyone dare to hazard a guess as to exactly how many minutes away. Although these are incredible there is no rock like Our Rock!

Photo Question

Anyone know where this picture was taken?

POWERFUL, SO POWERFUL, YOUR GLORY FILLS THE SKIES
YOUR MIGHTY WORKS DISPLAYED FOR ALL TO SEE

THE BEAUTY OF YOUR MAJESTY, AWAKES MY HEART TO SING
HOW MARVELOUS, HOW WONDERFUL YOU ARE

BEAUTIFUL ONE, I LOVE, BEAUTIFUL ONE, I ADORE
BEAUTIFUL ONE, MY SOUL MUST SING

YOU OPENED MY EYES TO YOUR WONDERS ANEW
YOU CAPTURED MY HEART WITH THIS LOVE
‘CAUSE NOTHING ON EARTH IS AS BEAUTIFUL AS YOU

MY SOUL, MY SOUL MUST SING….

Visiting Beckie's (Wolfe) blog I saw some awesome pictures. I thought they looked a bit familiar and then remembered that at one of our dozen or more pit stops driving the grandkids back to the Island... I too had snapped a few flower (weed) shots. I kept this one not because of its uniqueness.... I just thought it would make a good puzzle! There is a bee in this bouquet, all the butterflys were probably prepping for Beckie's pic. I'll stick to preaching and leave the photo taking to Beckie and Casey.
Have great Sunday!

Casey took this picture of our ranch last night. Pretty incredible, we are so blessed to live in this part of God's creation. There is never the same sky two nights in a row. There is definetly nothing "same old, same old" about God's artistic flair.