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- A Simply Amazing Morning! - A Simply Amazing Morning! One Wednesday, some time ago, the man awoke at 6:30 a.m., eight hours of sleep, interrupted only once by leg cramps. Eight hours, in itself, was amazing, because he usually got less. He felt rested and relaxed as he sat with his devotionals and his coffee. He always looked forward to this time with the Lord, reading devotionals, thinking about what he read and praying. Each time he spends with the Lord usually has variety, something different to think about, but this amazing morning was different. The readings/meditations were knit together to form one powerful message from God. Let me share His Word in this meditation: Continue reading
- A Weed, A Blessing - A Weed, A Blessing: There's a window that looks out on a little meadow with pine trees in the distance. The window faces southwest and in the summer the sun shines brightly through the window, which affects working at the desk. After unsuccessful attempts to plant a little garden outside the window, a weed sprang up and over a period of time, turned into a leafy bush. The man thought about cutting it down until he realized that weed was blocking the sun, allowing him to look at that beautiful scene as he worked. Each winter the plant went dormant and each spring sprouted anew with leaves that continued to bless the man, providing assurance that God was actively present. Continue reading
- Sounds of Silence - Sounds of Silence: Leonard Bernstein believed that ‘sang’ was a better translation than ‘said’ in the Genesis passage of Creation. Friedrich Nietzsche said that without music life would be miserable, in fact life would not exist at all. I agree with both statements. Do you? But I wonder if we miss the songs of God because we choose not to listen. If we believe God created the universe, and yet God is a personal spirit within us, why are we not listening carefully to the murmurings that come to us during our time with God, whenever we sit and surrender to the Lord, even in silence. I wonder if we sometimes miss the Spirit speaking to us in the words and music of secular songs, the beauty of art, and the majesty of scenes of nature. I wonder... Continue reading
- A Clean Heart - A Clean Heart: The heart is more than just emotions and affections, it is the center of life for each one of us. Without an effective beating heart, blood would not flow, it would not become oxygenated, and that would affect our thinking, even my praying. The heart is far more than we think it is. The Bible informs us that the heart is a critical center of life which touches and impacts all that we are and all that we do. Continue reading
- Lost in Wyoming - Lost in Wyoming: Have you ever been lost in thought? You’ve heard the tired, old funny, “My mind wandered away and it hasn’t returned, yet.” Sometimes that’s how I feel when I get lost in my imagination, lost in writing. In my case, I get lost in Wyoming, the location of recent stories. For me, being lost in Wyoming is a blessing. It’s a way of saying that I get caught up in the leading that my Lord provides, nudging me along a storyline that He wants written. When I get lost in Wyoming, and feel a sense of human pride creeping in, I remind myself that it is the work that God does through me that counts, not what I do for Him. I have to remember where it all comes from, and seek a closer relationship with God. Continue reading
- Making the Team - Making the Team: In high school, I learned that I made the basketball team! I had worked hard and had made it! As the first game of the season approached, I was thrilled to know that I would start! A couple of errant passes, a missed layup and a foul, and I found myself on the bench. Crushed! While in college, I had aspirations of becoming an actor. I auditioned for a part in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and was cast in the role of Sebastian, one of the male leads. A few years later, in another city, I auditioned with the local Civic Theater for a role in Bus Stop, and was cast in in the role of Beauregard 'Bo Decker, the male lead. My "aspirations" were encouraged. Still later, while playing the role of Horace Vandergelder in Hello Dolly! I discovered a major flaw in my plans. Continue reading
- Lost, but Found - Lost, but Found: The young couple stood at the door to the counselor’s office, and asked, ”Can we speak with you?” The counselor smiled and motioned for them to come in. The young man said to his friend, “You tell him.” She, in turn, said to him, in tears, “I can’t, you tell him”, and the story came out. It was a story of loss, loss of innocence. There had been an abortion five years before, at the age of 14, and the young woman was lost, deep in depression and delayed grief over her lost child. By the time the story was fully told, the three were in tears. Continue reading
- Gloom, Despair, and Agony - Gloom, Despair, and Agony: Humor plays an important role in our lives. Without humor and our faith in Christ, we can sink to the depths of ‘gloom, despair and agony’. There were times when felt we were in that pit during those months during the pandemic, a very real, and painful experience where you had to trust in the Lord and the few brief contacts with the outside world to keep sanity in place. The truth is that in living our lives we occasionally slip into depression, worry, and uncertainty. This is a very real issue that we need to be aware of in ourselves, and in our conversations with friends and family. Continue reading
- God’s Gifts and Our Purpose - God's Gifts and Our Purpose: Think about that and about the gifts or talents given to each of us. Every person has the task of releasing angels by shaping and transfiguring all those raw materials that lie within into our life, artistic works, careers, etc. We chip, and scratch, and file away at our raw material to discover our gifts, and the transformational process begins. Beneath this shell of hard-headedness, stubbornness, self-importance, low self-esteem, etc., waits the angel of our worth. Because our gifts carry us into the world and makes us participants in life, the uncovering of them is one of the most important tasks confronting any one of us. When we talk about being ourselves -- being the person we are intended by God to be -- we are talking about gifts. We cannot be ourselves unless we are true to the gifts and graces that flow to us from His hands. Continue reading
- Every Good Thing - Every Good Thing: Think about that and about the gifts or talents given to each of us. Every person has the task of releasing angels by shaping and transfiguring all those raw materials that lie within into our life, artistic works, careers, etc. We chip, and scratch, and file away at our raw material to discover our gifts, and the transformational process begins. Beneath this shell of hard-headedness, stubbornness, self-importance, low self-esteem, etc., waits the angel of our worth. Because our gifts carry us into the world and makes us participants in life, the uncovering of them is one of the most important tasks confronting any one of us. When we talk about being ourselves -- being the person we are intended by God to be -- we are talking about gifts. We cannot be ourselves unless we are true to the gifts and graces that flow to us from His hands. Continue reading
- Taking Care of Business - Taking Care of Business: There is a phrase in the secular world, “Making Love”, that conjures up things that do not belong in a devotional. However, that phrase does communicate an important process in the deepening of a friendship, the strengthening of the bonds in a marriage or a partnership, or the trust that often forms in a Bible Study group. A process that requires discipline, both active and passive.From a spiritual standpoint, we are called to love others, and Jesus goes so far as to tell us to love others as He has loved us. Continue reading
- Fourth Day - Fourth Day: We had been part of the Bible study for less than a year, when our Pastor urged us to participate in a weekend retreat. Neither one of us wanted to go, but when the pastor asks…On the drive over to Columbus we were two grumpy men, who were going where they did not want to go, doing something we did not want to do, being part of something we did not know anything about. Three days later we were two different men in that car traveling home, back to what we knew was our ‘Fourth Day’. On that retreat, we had met Jesus in ways that we have never considered, and it changed us. We now knew that we were children of God. Continue reading
- Can You See God? - Can You See God? Well, wherever real beauty, goodness, and truth occur they give us clues to seeing God. Each one of us could define those words but I would challenge you to visualize an absolute, concrete example of each, for each carries a glimpse of God. We humans have a fascinating problem when we consider how the God of creation shows himself to us. We have a hard time grasping the magnitude of the Almighty. Sometimes we miss clear evidence of His presence, character, and purpose when it is displayed before our very eyes. We simply miss the moment, the act, the healing, the joy, the peace, the touch of a loved one’s hand or voice, the little things that mean so much to us, forgetting that it is God showing Himself to you and I, personally. Continue reading
- Just As I Am - Just As I Am: Sometimes we stumble into God’s blessings, unaware and often unprepared. He puts us where he wants us, then draws us up to new heights where we would never have gone on our own; and the blessings become indelible. How about you? Have you ever walked into God’s blessings, ill prepared for what he has in store for you? Maybe you think you’re not dressed appropriately, maybe you planned to be somewhere else, doing something else, and your mind was someplace else. But there you were; dirty, sinful, wretched human being, displaying no reason that God would even look at you, let alone bless you…Yet, He does. Continue reading
- I Am the Greatest! - I Am the Greatest! Alright, who first said that and when? If you said Muhammad Ali you would be almost correct! Cassius Clay made that statement in a comedy album that was released in August 1963, six months before he announced his conversion to Islam and changed his name to Muhammad Ali. I am the greatest! I deserve this! I am entitled to more! Only I can do this! No one is better! In our political world, we will probably hear more of this child-fantasy talk and braggadocio, to the point where we want to scream. So, who is the greatest? Can we say with conviction’s that we do not deserve all the gifts and graces that our Lord has showered on us? The greatest is not me, or you. Continue reading
- Time to Clarify - Time to Clarify: The Bible isn't interested in making people happy. Instead, the Bible focuses on joy. Happiness is something we feel because of our situation or circumstances; i.e. we won the lottery, my friend still loves me, we found our lost 'sheep'. We are happy because something made us happy, but we are joyful because of our Spirit within. Somehow, happiness never seems to cross our minds when adversity knocks on our door, and yet…Have you ever thought about this: Can adversity breed joy? We are hard on ourselves, aren’t we? Our tendency is to look backwards. I coulda, shoulda done that differently, said something else or nothing at all, blah, blah. What a waste of time to sputter around with regrets. That can only lead to frustration, and all the related negative emotions, and there goes our happiness, right out the window. Continue reading
- The Math Lesson - The Math Lesson: It doesn't take much to walk in love. Sometimes it's simply showing kindness in the face of pain. Sometimes it’s your presence in their lives that has value. We’ve read devotionals on the topic of “the least of these”, part of the Good Samaritan parable. There are times when I think about that math lesson and how it changed me at a time when I didn’t know how to deal with the darkness in my young life.That simple ‘thank you’ was the pebble that nudged the rock, that tipped the boulder that led to a change of life. Continue reading
- Wake Up!* - Wake Up! We wake up to another day. Is this the day the Lord has given us? Yes. Do we rejoice? Do we? Are we glad? We pray for security and safety for our family, for our children, for our circle of friends, for the nation, for those we do not know, in places where we’ve never been. The thought may occur to us, that our prayers to God cannot be heard above the cries of the crowds that fill our streets in protest of injustice, or above the crash of breaking glass, and the emptiness of words spoken by our so-called leaders. And we may wonder where are you, Jesus? Continue reading
- Least of These? - Least of these?: Are you confused by the phrase, the least of these ? For years, when I have read that phrase I've assumed that it meant everyone, all of society's poor and downtrodden, those who are homeless, those who are hungry, those who are victims of programs and policies that hurt people. I did not realize that the scripture passage was the focus of much controversy in recent years. I was reading a blog from the Center for Christian Thought and they went into some detail about the different interpretations of that phrase. I wonder if we turn off our generosity, our compassion, when we are confronted by a problem that is so massive that we don’t know where to start. Maybe our mentality should focus on making a difference for a few. Continue reading
- I Don’t Know That Man! - I Don't Know That Man!: Consider this: Are we intentionally blind? Do we look away from need and pass by on the other side? Do we think that if we don’t see it, it never happened? Do we then chalk up our not seeing to ignorance. Then we trust our ignorance and tell ourselves it’s innocence. We trust our innocence and pride ourselves in our purity. Then, maybe, when we are called out by God, or circumstance, or our own conscience, we resent the implication. Maybe the truth is, we don’t resent it so much as we resemble the implication. What do you think of Peter? Three times he denied our Lord. Ever have this thought as you read that scripture: That could never happen to me! I would never deny him. I believe the truth is that we do deny our Lord, with greater frequency than we could ever admit. Continue reading
