tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-93014122024-03-15T20:12:07.197-05:00It's Like Herding CatsThe life of someone loved by GodUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1757125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9301412.post-11672852349881655492024-01-27T16:01:00.000-05:002024-01-27T16:01:05.468-05:00Laying that burden down<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7grVgQAbXjKQSKIjABBhYiAn_WDXY5AN-YHakdJRTDnx4EMqJ0BSx0SfWGT1eekctsa_z7dEZtaBsH6wuUHfC66lv5XwTZJwplfu-WKYk8OIrfCRS6lP4CkMjZdOcgVh4B0hjc-2htn5HRau9Hf_r0mbPm9QUayjhhG-cwOLBVzLZsXuVc5HKew/s1080/2022-09-26.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7grVgQAbXjKQSKIjABBhYiAn_WDXY5AN-YHakdJRTDnx4EMqJ0BSx0SfWGT1eekctsa_z7dEZtaBsH6wuUHfC66lv5XwTZJwplfu-WKYk8OIrfCRS6lP4CkMjZdOcgVh4B0hjc-2htn5HRau9Hf_r0mbPm9QUayjhhG-cwOLBVzLZsXuVc5HKew/s320/2022-09-26.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As a rule, no sports team I root for will prosper. Or if they do, they will be like a seed sown on hard ground. Consequently, I'm only an observer of success by other teams. Painfully so at times. And so it is with Liverpool, and their manager, Jurgen Klopp. In fact one of the most painful memories has to do with him and Liverpool beating my Tottenham Hotspurs in the Champions League finals.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">But I've always admired the Liverpool fanbase and in particular Jurgen Klopp. Recently, Klopp made known his decision to leave at the end of the year. He said he's run out of energy. That you can't do what he's done for as long as he's done it and not pay a price. I get that. I can identify with that.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Almost 25 years ago I accepted the call of a small group of people in Valparaiso, Florida - a place I don't think I had ever heard of - to become the pastor of New Hope Baptist Church. I was entering an area, a culture, and a role that I had no idea of the cost to my family and yes, to me. But I was absolutely sure this was God's will for my life. And my family trusted what I believed.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There were (in no specific order) hard times, okay times, hard as heck times, and good times - even great times. In one of the hardest, I knew the church would not be able to support my family through a severe but unexpected financial crisis. So I started substitute teaching, giving all my salary to the church. Then I got a full time teaching position and for the next 11 years I had two jobs I loved that would both take all the time, effort, and dedication you had to give. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">COVID came and I taught online for a year and 3 months. But then, even though I loved teaching online and did really well, there was to be no online. So I went back to the classroom and had a tough year. The togetherness and parent involvement wasn't there, and the admin paperwork, assumptions that you'd work another 20+ hours off the clock for free, and the horrible behavior issues and poor support from admin just sucked the joy out of teaching for me. At the same time, I was dealing with half the number of regular attenders at New Hope after COVID. At year's end - the week before I was to return - I retired from teaching. I hoped that I could help see the church turn around.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I'm still waiting. And yes, I get what Jurgen Klopp said. There's only so much you can give.</div><br /><p></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9301412.post-3995875084864486302024-01-25T13:52:00.003-05:002024-01-25T13:53:31.790-05:00Mr. Lincoln's Devotional<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiCJSJCRbkATi5GE5gzi0q6fBw8L0GMnv9TxrvQbx2RaHzj6g8NWeYYlcVWzk1KJbaE17wkVpAk-XEiDq4yvGH-ZRiPgHugCQ5qH_8jSCzOzG1Nr1nBuVOYtbEEaCKsl646l5TCN4sWM5uxhdKXyAe2pR_vKYFLVrZFw58Ex-fO8uWGGE07wFqiTQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3922" data-original-width="2598" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiCJSJCRbkATi5GE5gzi0q6fBw8L0GMnv9TxrvQbx2RaHzj6g8NWeYYlcVWzk1KJbaE17wkVpAk-XEiDq4yvGH-ZRiPgHugCQ5qH_8jSCzOzG1Nr1nBuVOYtbEEaCKsl646l5TCN4sWM5uxhdKXyAe2pR_vKYFLVrZFw58Ex-fO8uWGGE07wFqiTQ" width="159" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>A good friend, now with the Lord, was culling his possessions prior to moving into assisted living. He brought some things to our church rummage sale. Among them were several books. When I saw this one, I knew I needed it. I've always loved History and admired Abraham Lincoln (growing up, that would have been a highly unpopular opinion in my home town). </p><p>There's been a lot of speculation about Lincoln's relationship with God. Just as now, if a person's faith doesn't line up perfectly with the tenets of a particular denomination or group, the person can be viewed as everything from heathen to heretic. And conversely, people hoping to move opinions about a person's faith can seize on any quip or reported quote to make a person like Lincoln more than what he was.</p><p>The majority of people do see Lincoln's faith as Christian. He was seen on numerous occasions with a little book on his person, "A Believer's Book of Days" which was a devotional guide published in the mid-1800s by the Religious Tract Society of London, England. When I think about what Lincoln endured in his presidency, as a believer myself, I cannot imagine how he made it day to day with the burdens he carried. Carl Sandburg, who wrote a forward that's often included in the reprints of "Lincoln's Devotional" wrote “... it is new testimony that he was a man of profound faith.”</p><p>When you look at a devotional guide, look for not just comforting thoughts, but the scripture and how the editor pairs it with the commentary. Lincoln himself told a friend in the toughest period of the Civil War "Take this book (the Bible) upon reason that you can, and the balance on faith, and you will live and die a better man."</p><p>Today's entry that Lincoln would have read, "There is now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Romans 8:1 Followed up by this poem:</p><p>O LOve, thou bottomless abyss!</p><p>My sins are swallowed up in Thee;</p><p>Cover'd is my unrighteousness,</p><p>From condemnation now I'm free;</p><p>While Jesus' blood through earth and skies,</p><p>"Mercy, free boundless mercy!" cries.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9301412.post-67162574480944218542024-01-24T15:05:00.001-05:002024-01-25T13:53:18.147-05:00The little red book<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhmweEB3-L5oOS4dWd93BZxdMZ9qF2mfAlti2W0MJtUbk0TD_P8SWEZ6otVF__Rv4FMLUgWE5IF_tWlUkwpKsDX9P_rM8XtIJOqriGVcY1ImjJLMNxzyGYCAjb3LmbEeipxhMiVjugmXuY7mtfGen88NpYaRLn9By43PBr72Xc-HqBl8_ID9s__Bw" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1777" data-original-width="3024" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhmweEB3-L5oOS4dWd93BZxdMZ9qF2mfAlti2W0MJtUbk0TD_P8SWEZ6otVF__Rv4FMLUgWE5IF_tWlUkwpKsDX9P_rM8XtIJOqriGVcY1ImjJLMNxzyGYCAjb3LmbEeipxhMiVjugmXuY7mtfGen88NpYaRLn9By43PBr72Xc-HqBl8_ID9s__Bw" width="320" /></a></div><br /><br /><p></p><p> Books. Yeah, I have books. The little red book that rests on my desk drawer is not like the others. It's been a source of inspiration, a catalyst for serious reflection, a challenge and a comfort - for decades. Today I opened it, and written at the top of the page is written in pencil Jan 28 - Feb 4 2002. That was on my first time through it. There have been many times I've picked it up since then - and it has helped me.</p><p>"Disciplines for the Inner Life" is its name. It's a collection of prayers, scripture readings, songs and commentary on the practices that help form a soul to reflect Jesus Christ. I've recommended it to several over the years.</p><p>For me, it was a revelation, because it had many contributors that I hadn't known of except in passing. Going through the denominational pipeline has advantages and disadvantages. One I discovered was the narrowness of focus. Over the years I've widened the breadth of what I read when I prepare. No regrets at all except not beginning sooner. </p><p>People like Annie Dillard: "No one escapes the wilderness on the way to the promised land."</p><p>Or Brother Lawrence: "“The difficulties of life do not have to be unbearable. It is the way we look at them - through faith or unbelief - that makes them seem so. We must be convinced that our Father is full of love for us and that He only permits trials to come our way for our own good."</p><p>Or Henri Nouwen: “I have found it very important in my own life to try to let go of my wishes and instead to live in hope. I am finding that when I choose to let go of my sometimes petty and superficial wishes and trust that my life is precious and meaningful in the eyes of God something really new, something beyond my own expectations begins to happen for me. (Finding My Way Home)”</p><p>They've become my trusted and faithful companions on the Way. Who are yours?</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9301412.post-38679533843501037802020-06-05T20:59:00.000-05:002020-06-05T20:59:19.917-05:00It's Us<br />
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It's hard to believe we are in 2020, given we've been working on racial reconciliation for longer than I have been alive. One of the books we read every year is about Ruby Bridges, one of the bravest Americans that never wore a uniform. She walked the long road to integrate her school in Little Rock, even though the Governor and most of the public hated her for being black. The military had to be called in to make it possible. The Chicago newspaper, the Defender, sent a reporter to Little Rock to see what monsters lived in Little Rock. But it turned out the people were ordinary. </div>
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Gwendolyn Brooks's poem, “The Chicago Defender Sends a Man to Little Rock”: 1957</div>
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In Little Rock the people bear</div>
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Babes, and comb and part their hair</div>
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And watch the want ads, put repair</div>
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To roof and latch. While wheat toast burns</div>
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A woman waters multiferns.</div>
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Time upholds, or overturns,</div>
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The many, tight, and small concerns.</div>
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In Little Rock the people sing</div>
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Sunday hymns like anything,</div>
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Through Sunday pomp and polishing.</div>
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And after testament and tunes,</div>
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Some soften Sunday afternoons</div>
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With lemon tea and Lorna Doones.</div>
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I forecast</div>
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And I believe</div>
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Come Christmas Little Rock will cleave</div>
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To Christmas tree and trifle, weave,</div>
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From laugh and tinsel, texture fast.</div>
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In Little Rock is baseball; Barcarolle.</div>
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That hotness in July … the uniformed figures raw and implacable</div>
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And not intellectual,</div>
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Batting the hotness or clawing the suffering dust.</div>
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…</div>
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There is love, too, in Little Rock. Soft women softly</div>
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Opening themselves in kindness,</div>
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Or, pitying one’s blindness,</div>
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Awaiting one’s pleasure</div>
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In azure</div>
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…</div>
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In Little Rock they know</div>
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Not answering the telephone is a way of rejecting life,</div>
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That it is our business to be bothered, is our business</div>
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To cherish bores or boredom, be polite</div>
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To lies and love and many-faceted fuzziness.</div>
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I scratch my head, massage the hate-I-had.</div>
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I blink across my prim and pencilled pad.</div>
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The saga I was sent for is not down.</div>
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Because there is a puzzle in this town.</div>
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The biggest News I do not dare</div>
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Telegraph to the Editor’s chair:</div>
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“They are like people everywhere.”</div>
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The angry Editor would reply</div>
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In hundred harryings of Why.</div>
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And true, they are hurling spittle, rock,</div>
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Garbage and fruit in Little Rock.</div>
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And I saw coiling storm a-writhe</div>
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On bright madonnas. And a scythe</div>
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Of men harassing brownish girls.</div>
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(The bows and barrettes in the curls</div>
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And braids declined away from joy.)</div>
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I saw a bleeding brownish boy …</div>
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The lariat lynch-wish I deplored.</div>
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The loveliest lynchee was our Lord.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9301412.post-2840682728816854292020-06-05T15:42:00.000-05:002020-06-05T15:42:09.125-05:00It's Time - Past Time<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I reread the "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" yesterday, and what struck me about it this time through was that it was written in 1963, but the "fierce urgency" he wrote about is still here. I've thought and prayed about it off and on ever since and I think there are some things I need to confess and one I need to repent of. It's past time that I did. So here goes.<br />
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It's time for me to say that most of the history I was taught in the public schools of Bibb County Georgia was biased toward a white-European perspective. I had little exposure to other cultures and didn't begin to gain any until I went back to college in the 1980s. I've learned more since beginning to teach 10 years ago than in all the other years. But I still have a lot to learn. Not only about other cultures, but about the parts of American culture that were hidden from me, even when they were happening.<br />
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It's time for me to say that the Civil War was clearly about slavery, and that the people of the South fought to perpetuate that sin. You can say they fought to live as they always had, but that way included owning other people made in God's image. That's a sin. Those men I looked up to and admired - men like Lee, Jackson, Gordon and others were traitors to the Union. No matter what virtues they might have had, they were complicit in the sin of slavery by their actions to prop it up. The cause was evil. At the core. And they, and my ancestors were wrong to fight to keep it going, and I was wrong to honor that.<br />
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It's time for me to admit that I have no idea what it's like to worry if I'm pulled over about anything other than a ticket. Or no idea about being followed in stores, or treated differently because of my color. I have always bristled to hear the word "privilege." I understand what it means now. I have that, even if I still don't think the word captures what it is. It has to end. White supremecy has no place in our culture and is anathema to the teachings of Jesus.<br />
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It's time for me to admit that I don't suffer the disadvantages of my color, and that I gain from advantages I don't even realize I have always had.<br />
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For all my ignorance, insensitivity, and lack of interest in the pain that my black brothers and sisters have endured I apologize and ask your forgiveness. I stand with you in the desire for justice - equal justice - for all.<br />
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My heart is broken over what has happened and is happening in our nation. I've been shocked again and again by the rank evil that the police and racist indiividuals have perpetrated on innocent black men and women. I will work to make a change for as long as God leaves me here. His Kingdom come.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9301412.post-24360729851899939132020-05-05T21:23:00.000-05:002020-05-05T21:23:08.007-05:00Lord Have Mercy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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"When we discern that people are not going along spiritually and allow the discernment to turn to criticism, we block our way to God. God never gives us discernment in order that we may criticize, but that we may intercede." - Oswald Chambers<br />
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It happens sometimes without our even realizing it.<br />
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A person we know, we relate to, we care about - comes to an opinion or position that immediately leads us to believe that all is not right between them and God. And lets say, for the sake of my proposal, that their opinion or position conflicts with our own settled facts about the matter.<br />
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"Well," we say to ourselves (at least until we can get to Facebook to write some subtle dig, rant, or other "instructive" post that casts us in the very best light and them in shadow), "hopefully God will convict them of their sin."<br />
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Hmmmm....<br />
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I seem to recall an event where a rich and religiously well connected man, and an outcast of a collaborator both come to pray. One takes the time to remind God what a great catch He made when He convinced Mr. Piousity to come on board. The other, shaking as he cried, knowing his sins were as scarlet, and his life itself unworthy, said this, "Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner."<br />
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Jesus, who knew sinners and religious people well, and tended to hang out with the sinners, pointed to the outcast as the one who went away justified.<br />
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Friend, you and I cannot walk away justified from a categorization of anyone as a sinner. What we can do if we are led to believe another is walking the wrong direction is pray for them, What we can do is love them. What we can do is live our lives as proof that even a sinner like us can find hope and redemption in Jesus.<br />
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Now who are you going to pray for? That is after that "Lord Jesus, have mercy on me a sinner" part.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9301412.post-67617479522648254312020-05-01T11:26:00.002-05:002020-05-01T11:26:31.518-05:00The Questions<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9XedZnq8RFY/XqxNeYyk9QI/AAAAAAAAvYI/st0BrwzupsMYZHqDcVjKLpfjYEZ65MZowCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_20200501_112043.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1029" data-original-width="1600" height="205" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9XedZnq8RFY/XqxNeYyk9QI/AAAAAAAAvYI/st0BrwzupsMYZHqDcVjKLpfjYEZ65MZowCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_20200501_112043.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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There's a old red devotional book next to me here at my cluttered desk. I got it almost 20 years ago at a yard sale. It and I have been in a relationship ever since. There are times when it's a pretty constant companion and part of my daily routine - and even more often some days. And there are weeks, even months some years that I just drift away from it for a while.<br />
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Yet within it are some passages and quotes that lift me. That shake me. That probe me and my faith.<br />
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Do you have friends like that? Everybody should, I think.<br />
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There are so many examples of what I encounter there, by so many writers and sources I could share, but because this morning some people who might be wondering and wandering are on my heart, I'll share this.<br />
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"I want to beg you to be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and to try and love the questions themselves like locked rooms and like books that are written in a very foreign tongue. Do not now try to seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you wouldn't be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer." <br />
- From Letters to A Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke<br />
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If you could only see how many times I search the Scriptures, break down the text, read the ancient commentators and trace the years through what men and women have written as they too "lived the questions" maybe it would make a difference for you.<br />
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What resonates with me about this is the "live along some distant day into the answer."<br />
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How many times have you stopped short having realized after many years just why your father or mother did something a certain way. I know marriage and having children of your own bring realizations like that for many.<br />
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But walking with Jesus does too.<br />
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If you'll keep walking.<br />
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Will you please keep walking into the answers?<br />
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Your companion on the journey,<br />
<br />
David<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9301412.post-59285554351175368552020-04-29T09:32:00.000-05:002020-04-29T09:32:26.704-05:00Leaving Your Mark<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Years ago, when my supply of books was outpacing my capacity to store them, my Father In Law, Curtis Clinard decided to apply his considerable woodworking skills and help me out. He designed and built a pair of large bookshelves with an entertainment center in the middle. </div>
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The entertainment center suffered from the advance of technology. Since you can put a half dozen LCDs in the cavern a tube TV occupied, its place in our house was lost (it's in the garage now). But the bookshelves that accompany it have and are serving to hold the books I use every week.</div>
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You know Curtis had me "help" him when the bookshelves and TV unit were built. Not in any skilled way for sure - but I was there, watching and helping with what I could. I learned a little bit about carpentry. And I learned a little more about my Father-In-Law's way. </div>
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He was precise - measured twice to cut once.</div>
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He was efficient - his tools and materials were arranged so the job was easier.</div>
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He was guided by his convictions - if it was to have his name on it, it had to be the best he could do.</div>
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And he was kind. There were times my "help" probably was not helpful. But when it wasn't, he stopped and without any sign of exasperation or disappointment, he'd not just fix it - he'd show me why it happened, how to fix it, and how not to do it again.</div>
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Yeah, I learned a little bit about carpentry that year. And I learned a lot from my Father-In-Law that still is guiding me today. He left his mark on me.</div>
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I believe it's because of the mark he carried on his heart from his Savior. Think about it. Curtis Clinard was a follower of Jesus Christ. A carpenter from Nazareth. What he learned at Christ's workbench, he simply passed along to me. </div>
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29 Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.” </div>
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(Matt 11:29-30)</div>
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Guided by the Truth in love, </div>
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David</div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9301412.post-10903505424095367542020-04-25T20:28:00.003-05:002020-04-25T20:28:58.433-05:0018 years today<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.85px;"><b>18 years today</b></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.85px;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.85px;">It's not that I ran out of words. And it's not that the pain, grief, and loss vanished. We haven't "gotten over it." As much as we love Aiden, he didn't replace Ana. You do get to a point where you only allow the memories to take you back to that day every now and then. And the day she would have celebrated her 18th birthday is one of those.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.85px;">The world sure has changed in those 18 years. But the anticipation of seeing her has not. We're closer to that day by far now than then. I've seen death up close a few more times since then, once even my own.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.85px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.85px;">But it didn't compare to that day in the hospital room when Bunny was holding that little body and praying she would come to life.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.85px;">All I can tell you is that if I didn't have the belief I do in the God who can bring life out of death, I'd never have made it. Then, or now.</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 14.85px;">Happy birthday granddaughter.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; font-weight: bold;">It's Been Six Years (written in 2008)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Today is the 6th anniversary of the death of our one and only grandchild - Our granddaughter Anastasia Elizabeth Wilson. I've gone back through what I've written down through the years at this time of year, beginning with what I sent the night after I had come home from the tragedy, when I was preparing to go back to Macon. I've collected them all here, so I can remember, and in hopes what I wrote would help someone else.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">One of the greatest honors in this life for me was being asked by my son Adam to help lead us through the valley of shadows at the funeral. It was also the hardest thing I have ever done. Reading these this morning has been hard as well. But it has also reminded me of just how precious the love of Jesus is to Bunny and me.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">We would never have been able to cope with such devastation without Him - without Jesus. If you do read this, my hope for you is that you see past the grief to the grief-bearer.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">The day after Ana passed away I wrote...</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">I'm writing this from my study here at New Hope about midnight on Friday.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Our family is mourning the loss of our Anastasia Elizabeth Wilson, the daughter of my son Adam and our daughter-in-love Shonda. Ana was due to arrive April 29th, but was found Wednesday night to have passed away and was delivered Thursday. I can report to you all that Shonda and Adam are coping as well as they can. Shonda was released from the hospital today.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">The funeral will be held Sunday in Macon, GA at Glen Haven cemetery graveside at 2 PM. Visitation is Saturday from 7 to 9 pm at Snow's Memorial Chapel on Pio Nono Ave in Macon. I'll be helping the family through the service Sunday. Please pray for us in this time of deep sorrow.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">There is so much I want to tell you about the courage of my daughter-in-love. She was incredibly brave and is a treasure. I'm so glad God placed her in our family. My son Adam was all a husband and Daddy should be - warm, loving, strong, and tender. Shonda's Mom and Dad have been wonderful as well as we share this fellowship of sorrow. And my wife Bunny was able to help deliver her first grandchild, serving her beloved Shonda and Adam through her tears. So many people have been so loving to us, from New Hope to Macon and beyond. May God bless you.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Before I leave to get some sleep prior to returning to Macon, can I share something with you?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Ana was our first grandchild. We were excited and getting more so as the big day approached. In the last few months our tastes at yard sales changed from books to baby clothes. We even traded cars so nothing would hinder our heading back and forth to Macon to see our precious little one. She carried the promise of ice cream sticky kisses, tight hugs, and a million "do it again Granddaddy's".</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">She was a dream, not a promise. Every baby comes forth out of struggle. Nine months or a little less of growing, of waiting, and then a final violent fight to be born. In our country most make it to birth. Other places fewer do. But we assume they will, because we want them so much. But we don't have a promise that they will. We have a dream.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">We say "promises are meant to be broken", because in our humanity, we make some we never intend to honor, others we intend to and can't. The truth of a promise then depends on our character and our ability. We all have sinned and fallen short - so there's our character. And we cannot make everything better - so much for our ability, and our promises.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">But there is One Who has both the ability and the character to make promises that count for something. His ability is limitless, and He is absolutely holy. What He says He'll do, He always does. Tonight as I write this through tears I'm trusting in those promises not just for me, but for Adam, Shonda, Bunny, Sean and the rest of our families - and for Ana.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">He said, "There are many rooms in my Father's home, and I am going to prepare a place for you. If this were not so, I would tell you plainly. When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am." John 14:2-3 (NLT)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">And He said, "I will never fail you. I will never forsake you." Heb. 13:5b</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">And this- "For the Lamb who stands in front of the throne will be their Shepherd. He will lead them to the springs of life-giving water. And God will wipe away all their tears." Rev 7:17 (NLT)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">No more tears. No more death. No more sorrow.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">I know my heavenly Father is caring for our beloved Ana, even better than we could do. And I know that though our hearts are aching, He hasn't left us alone and He never will.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">I know that, because I know Him. I'm praying you do too.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">May God grant you His peace. Please remember us in your prayers this weekend and in the weeks to come.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">David Wilson</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">One week later I wrote this...</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Heaven</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">At the beginning of our military's involvement in Afghanistan, the nation awoke to the fact that we really didn't know much about it. Thousands searched the net, and browsed books and periodicals to learn more about the land and its people.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">One man who had come to his local public library was dismayed to find that every single book was either in use within the library that day or checked out. The librarian tried to calm the man, asking him what it was that drove him to want to know all he could about Afghanistan.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">The man said, "This morning, my son's unit landed on the ground near Kabul. I've got a loved one, a part of my heart there."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">With the passing of our beloved baby girl, Anastasia Elizabeth Wilson last week, once again I was reminded how much I want to know about heaven, where she is right now. I've spent some time this morning reading about it both in the Bible and in books by Billy Graham and others. All their insight helped me understand more about how special a place it truly is. But it is so much more special to me now.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Our precious baby was blessed with a loving mother who constantly made sure she was loved and cared for. She knew nothing but love. She left for a place of constant love. In our pain that is so hard to imagine. Many of us have known heartbreak. Some have known the pains of persecution, or prejudice, the anguish of loneliness. Ana will forever only know love. Of all I've read today, this helped me the most.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">"No eye has seen, no ear has heard,and no mind has imagined what God has prepared</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">for those who love him." 2 Cor. 2:9</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">I've imagined what heaven is like for years. The pictures in my mind are incredibly beautiful. A place of peace, of comfort, of joy! I've tried to think of what will be there, of how it is laid out, or who I'll see and how we will know each other. But in this short bit of scripture, God has told me this - "David, take every dream you ever had about heaven and throw it away. Your heart cannot hold what I've done for you."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">God is love. And in that love He has been preparing a place for those who love Him that is beyond anything we can grasp. It's a place you would want everyone you love to go to when they die. I'm so thankful we have a God like that.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">I pray everyone who reads this has the key to heaven's door - a relationship with Jesus Christ. If you don't, and would like to know how you can, write me. I want you to have a place prepared beyond all you can imagine too</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">After One year Had Passed...</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">How Do You Handle A Heartache?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">There's a commercial playing now on the radio station I listen to that's very clever. A woman answers the telephone, and a "headache" asks if it would be a good time for him to come over. "No, it's not a good time for me," she answers. "What about after five? I could do a migraine for you at five. Will that work?" "No, that won't work either, goodbye," and she hangs up.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">They are selling a headache remedy that's designed to work all day, and prevent any from occurring. Good work if it can do what it says. I've got another question today though. How do you handle a heartache?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">You see it is one of those days that accumulate on the calendar as you grow older, just as the gray accumulates in your hair. Some anniversaries come around every year and are pleasant. Birthdays, wedding anniversaries, things like that. Others are added along the path of life and are most unwelcome.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Today is one of those days.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">A year ago our family was together, united by sorrow, by bonds deeper than any legal writ. We mourned the passing of a dream. For our son and his wife, their first child. For Bunny and me, our first grandchild. A baby girl, so tiny, with a big name. Anastasia. Ana.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">I wrote then that she had passed from the embrace of her mother's womb directly into the arms of God. No pain, no worries, no woe would ever befall her. Truth. Nothing has changed. She's safe, she is whole, and we will see her one day. Yet the loss remains, and the memory lingers. Some days are easier than others. But it is always there.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">We've consoled each other. Sharing our individual reactions, bearing one another's burdens. Friends have been wonderful. We've come a long way, gone through several other trials since then. But it has been a long, long year, and the heartache remains. And on anniversaries like this one, it dials our number.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">I got up early today and spent some time listening for God's whisper. That's nothing "metaphysical", it just means I got out of His way. Shut down my busy mind. Put my plans on hold and waited. Bits and pieces came, and so I began to write, and I opened my Bible. I read of David's reaction to his child's passing. Then I read of others as they dealt with their grief. I read and I read, and finally I came to this passage.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, "Look, the home of God is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be His people. God himself will be with them.4 He will remove all of their sorrows, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. For the old world and its evils are gone forever."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">5 And the one sitting on the throne said, "Look, I am making all things new!" And then He said to me, "Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true." Rev 21:4-5 (NLT)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">I know just how John the revelator felt. Write this down - it is trustworthy and true. God wants us to know just how much He cares for us, and He doesn't want anyone to miss it. Thank God!</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">God with us. That's what I need, what we need to handle our heartaches. An ever present friend who loves us as we are, but so much more than that. Someone who can make us better - who can make all things new. And someone who won't just help us get over our sorrows, but will remove them. That's exactly what we need.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">For now, we have this "old world and its evils." Jesus, in His final few words to His disciples said, "You have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy." John 16:22 (NLT)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">That's looking forward. And so is this.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">"I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world." John 16:33 (NLT)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Friends, grief, sorrow, the pain of loss is part of this world.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Heartaches are a part of life.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">But for me, being able to collapse into the arms of Jesus, telling Him of my sorrow, knowing He knows my pain, and is actively helping me through it - well, that is how heartache is handled here. Who did He leave for us? The Comforter. Could anyone have chosen a better name for what we need? So when heartache calls, that is who I turn to. And He's never let me down.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Oh but one day, one day, my Lord will say to all those heartaches - Begone! And no one, no one, will ever rob us of our joy again. I can take heart in that on the most bitter anniversaries. And I will today.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">If you would, please remember my son Adam Wilson, his wife Shonda, her parents and family, my wife Bunny, and our family in your prayers today. We've deeply appreciated your prayers. They have truly helped us this past year.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">After two years had passed...</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Absence and the Heart</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Psalm 34:18 (Msg)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">If your heart is broken, you'll find God right there;</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">if you're kicked in the gut, He'll help you catch your breath.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">It's been two years today.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">And right now my mind is flooded with might have beens. So many things are obvious blessings in my life - my wife, my boys, what God has called me to do, that I can get busy, and some of the hurt goes away. But today it's two years, and all I can think of is what we've missed - of what is absent that we had hoped would be here.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">She would have had her father's eyes.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">There were times when he was a little boy that we'd go off alone - to the store, to the Krystal, to Grandmother's, that I could look over in the seat next to me and see him looking at me. He'd ask questions, I'd try to answer, and the openness - the trust - the love in those eyes just melted me.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Yep. She would have had her father's eyes.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Her smile would have lit up a room, just like her mother's does. There are a lot of ways to measure people. My own personal preference is to look at their impact on others. Some people enter a room and suck all the joy out of it. When they smile it just doesn't look right, like cow horns on a Mercedes. They put it on to try to give the right response, but it isn't who they are.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Her mother is tiny. But when she smiles - she's huge.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">I can see tiny feet beating the earth, little white tennis shoes slapping it as they come, bearing a smile so brilliant it warms this cold earth. She grins from ear to ear, and all you feel is joy.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">She'd have her mother's smile.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">By now, we'd have covered all the important things. Who loves you best, why Granddaddy's hair is gray, the funniest cartoons, how to eat Krystals and Nuways, and how come Grandmother hugs so hard. We'd have begun noticing new words, and she'd almost be reading. She'd have impacted my wallet and stolen my heart. Again.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Heart. She'd have had her grandmother's.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">I have known literally thousands of people over 50 years. Some were self-contained, others - self-absorbed. A few seemed to enjoy this life, and others endured it. Many were bright, even brilliant. Others caught the eye, or in some other way made it through the clutter of a life's experiences to my heart.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">But none have loved me like Bunny has. For no one I've ever known loves that deeply.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Two years ago, as we rolled up calendars toward April 29th, the expected day of joy, our home was filled with baby clothing, baby toys, baby... stuff. People around us shared in that and we added our own items. I remember visiting Target with Bunny and hearing her say a dozen times, "won't that look so pretty on Ana?" The only girl in a string of boys, the only girl in her own home full of men - young and older - the possibility to hold, to love, to care, to dress!!! a baby girl was excitement personified.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">And when the days stopped for Ana, her Grandmother didn't stop loving. She found a way to love beyond the pain in helping her daughter-in-love deliver her baby. As I watched Bunny hold that small and delicate baby in her arms, weeping and talking to her as if she could hear... it was the greatest expression of love I've ever seen - through the deepest heartache.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">She'd have had her Grandmother's heart.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">For me, I don't know what I could have given her. It certainly wouldn't be material things, and her mom and dad would certainly taught her the A, B, C's and enlightened her on them 'Dawgs and Georgia politics.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">So I guess she'd have had my prayers each day from infancy to adulthood, my lap to sit in, my knees to ride, and later my shoulder to cry on and my ears to hear.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">It's been two years today. Two long years. Her absence hurts our hearts. But one day...</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">We will see her.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">And that thrills my heart.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Grace, mercy, and peace,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">David Wilson</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Three years went by and I wrote...</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">To Love - To Life</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">To love at all is to be vulnerable.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">But in that casket--safe, dark, motionless, airless--it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable...</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers...of love is Hell. C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Anastasia Elizabeth Wilson entered heaven three years ago this week. She never drew a breath outside her mother's womb.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">She was our first grandchild.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">It hurt. Dreams were crushed. Hearts shattered. Tears flowed.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">To this very day, there's a heartache. If Bunny and I discuss those days, it's in tears. As we talked about it last night, we agreed the events were a sad story, with no joy anywhere within.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">But we live on. We love on.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">We could do so timidly, like a child venturing out over a frozen lake who knows he shouldn't be doing it at all.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">We could do so blindly, like someone who doesn't want to hear the truth and so sticks his fingers into his ears and screams la la la la la at the top of his lungs.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Or we could live each day in love with life, just as it is, with all its hopes and dreams, joys and sorrows.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Why? Or maybe more importantly, how?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Paul writes in Corinithians:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">"Go after a life of love as if your life depended on it--because it does. " Cor 14:1 The Message</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Life includes the highest of joys and the deepest of heartaches. That's just life. Nothing I've ever experienced was as heartbreaking as the events around Ana's death. But God has shown us His love directly again and again and through many, many people. We are surrounded at New Hope by children, some of who need love so badly they'll beg to be held, or work to catch your attention, or will just sit next to Bunny when she's on the floor teaching, and lay their head on her shoulder.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Friends, to make it through the valley of the shadow of death, you need to know that God is with you, and that there is life on the other side of the valley. Our lives depend on receiving God's love through His Son Jesus and the Spirit's presence with us AND on giving love to others as God has given to us.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Hurts never become happy.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">But we can find joy when we live to love.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Grace!</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">David</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Then it had been four years. I was grateful for what God had done in my heart, but it was still there on my internal calendar...</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Oh!</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">32And they came to an olive grove called Gethsemane, and Jesus said, "Sit here while I go and pray." 33He took Peter, James, and John with him, and he began to be filled with horror and deep distress. 34He told them, "My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and watch with me."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">35He went on a little farther and fell face down on the ground. He prayed that, if it were possible, the awful hour awaiting him might pass him by. 36"Abba,[ g] Father," he said, "everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will, not mine."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">37Then he returned and found the disciples asleep. "Simon!" he said to Peter. "Are you asleep? Couldn't you stay awake and watch with me even one hour? 38Keep alert and pray. Otherwise temptation will overpower you. For though the spirit is willing enough, the body is weak."</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">39Then Jesus left them again and prayed, repeating his pleadings. 40Again he returned to them and found them sleeping, for they just couldn't keep their eyes open. And they didn't know what to say.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">This week I've been reading and rereading this passage. I've studied it in every context, in the original language, through the hearts of many commentators and preachers. What they've taught me, I understand.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">But... oh!</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">I don't know what to say... either.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">How do we come to grips with the fact that the only person who ever lived on this planet without offending God, was the only one who could pay the penalty for the rest of us? How do we - or can we - understand what taking on the sin of the world meant to Jesus - how He instinctively must have been sick in His spirit? What was Jesus feeling as He suffered with the knowledge of what He must go through?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">There are times in this life that people you love go through hardship. You'd love to be able to make it right - to come in and fix everything. But you can't. You slide into the grips of depression, feeling powerless and weak. The tendency then for some is just to give up and do nothing, despite their love for the one in need.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Jesus knows that about us. And it doesn't change His love for us one bit. Note what he says to the disciples. "For though the spirit is willing enough, the body is weak." So what are we to do?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">It's been 4 years since our granddaughter Ana died, and I still don't have the words to make it right. It still hurts for all of us.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Shonda and Adam were going through such pain, and despite everything Bunny and I could do, there was no way we could do enough. The pain, the shock - was there. So we cried. We prayed. We held them and let them know we loved them.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">And we hurt. And still are hurting.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">But one day, the One who can make it right - will. And his name is Jesus. Knowing that He went through more suffering that we ever could comprehend means for me that I know He understands.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Knowing that He went through it voluntarily means I know He cares.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">What do you say to that deep a love?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Thank you Jesus.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">David</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Last year...</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Grief</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">It is the first emotion I remember.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">As a boy, standing beside the road as my father carried my beloved collie away, killed by a truck.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">It is the only one I cannot put away.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Even now, just typing the phrase "my father" brings tears. And thinking about our granddaughter... hurts. The loss of someone who we had hoped would fill our lives with joy again and again shook us to the core of who we are and tested the roots of what we believe.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">And yet it made me love Jesus more intensely - to cling to Him for life. To make me want to know Him more - to spend more time in His presence.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Because He knew... grief.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">It was my first sermon. I had prayed, oh how I had prayed. Day after day I had opened my Bible and read, asking God to give me a "word" for the people at a little mill village town in Forsyth, GA. It was outside that mill that my grandfather had been struck by the car of a rich man's daughter. He died a few days later. I wanted to go there and speak a word of hope, of encouragement.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">But God led me to a snippet of Scripture.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">No great and lofty text. No commonly known passage. No safe, preacher's portion. I didn't do it justice that day. Perhaps no one ever could. For what it says about the Son of God is too wonderful for words.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">11 Not long after that, Jesus went to the village Nain. His disciples were with him, along with quite a large crowd. 12 As they approached the village gate, they met a funeral procession— a woman's only son was being carried out for burial. And the mother was a widow. 13 When Jesus saw her, his heart broke. He said to her, "Don't cry." 14 Then he went over and touched the coffin. The pallbearers stopped. He said, "Young man, I tell you: Get up." 15 The dead son sat up and began talking. Jesus presented him to his mother.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">16 They all realized they were in a place of holy mystery, that God was at work among them. They were quietly worshipful— and then noisily grateful, calling out among themselves, "God is back, looking to the needs of his people!"</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Luke 7:11-16 (MSG)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">That day, I said all I knew to say about that passage in about 6 minutes.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">I was young. No one in my family had passed away. I had no clue as to what the loss of someone you loved might be like. I had history - other people's life experiences passed down.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Since then I've had too many occasions to remember how Jesus reacted to the widow of Nain.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">You know, when I pray for those at the point of death, I pray for God's will to be done. That doesn't mean I haven't fought the fierce inner struggles we all do when we want our loved ones restored as Jesus did that day outside Nain. No one wants those they love to leave them. But I know that God's will is always best for His children. Even though it is so hard.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Because He's a God whose heart can be broken over their grief.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">I don't know if I could follow a God Who looked down on people and tried to imagine what they were feeling. Maybe, but there'd be so much missing from his understanding. He'd never really know... grief.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Some of you know exactly what I mean. The days, weeks, and months after someone dies do help with the pain, but it never really leaves entirely. And at certain times, or on certain days, it leaps back into your mind. That's when I turn to Jesus. That's when He looks at me and I know He shares my pain.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Even in grief, our God is there, looking to the needs of His people.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">And He's exactly what we need.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">"God is back, looking to the needs of his people!"</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Yes He is. Even today.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">May God give you peace,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">David</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Today it's been six years.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Bunny's been looking at the calendar for weeks now, knowing it was coming. We've talked about Ana and her passing several times in the last few days. One thing is for certain. Bunny and I are closer to seeing Ana today than we have ever been before. Age has its rewards.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Someday we'll see a beautiful little girl come running toward us with her arms wide open. Someday we'll kneel and receive the blessing of her hugs and kisses. Someday there will be no more anniversaries, no days like this.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">But not today.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Today we'll mourn, and look ahead. To heaven. To the One Who has promised to wipe away every tear - personally.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">To Ana.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Love you,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px;">Grandmother and Granddaddy</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9301412.post-62700580262741457472020-04-23T21:49:00.000-05:002020-04-23T21:49:45.009-05:00Toys R Us Faith?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-grGbVY270O4/XqJTe7ipo1I/AAAAAAAAvUM/YU9DqxtbzRsWacwO1OjmjmQ7UERzvtHVwCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/toysrus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="1024" height="137" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-grGbVY270O4/XqJTe7ipo1I/AAAAAAAAvUM/YU9DqxtbzRsWacwO1OjmjmQ7UERzvtHVwCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/toysrus.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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If you are of an age, you will remember a wonderland of toys called Toys R Us. When I was a child, there were two toy stores in the city near us. One was in the rich section of town and I never went in there. The other was downtown and when I first went in there, it was literally underneath another store. The effect was as if you were shopping in someone's basement.<br />
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We didn't get toys often. So in that "I want my kids to have better than I had it" good old American dream, our boys had quite a few. Bunny and I did our share, but the real giver of toys was their Granddaddy Wilson. I always suspected when I was a child that he loved my toys at least as much as I did, but by the time I had children of my own, there was no doubt in my mind that he loved the toys he bought them maybe more than they did.<br />
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There was a routine to it normally. It was called "payday." When my father got his check, that Friday he would take the boys to Toys R Us and buy them each a toy. And then there were the "make it up to you" toys. If something went wrong - maybe they got in trouble with their parents or their grandmother, my father would sneak them off to Toys R Us and "make it up to them" by buying them something. No wonder the theme song for the store was "I don't want to grow up, I'm a Toys R Us kid."<br />
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It's a pretty horrible parenting style, frankly.<br />
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And yet there are sometimes that we look up to our Father God when things don't go the way we want them to, and sort of pray for Him to "make it up" to us. Even a casual reader of the New testament can't help but notice that there's a whole lot of suffering that goes on among believers, and a whole lot more that is predicted for those who come after.<br />
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Right now, we're going through some trying times. The temptation is to pray for God to swoop in, fix it, and then make it up to us - rewarding us for going through the trial. No, He has something better for us. By leaning on Him, by trusting Him with every care and worry, instead of being compensated for our trouble, we are going to find ourselves becoming conformed more toward the image of Christ Jesus.<br />
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Toys wear out. They often break or the batteries die. Sometimes they get lost.<br />
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But the effect of God's Holy Spirit working in us will never go away. I want to grow up.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9301412.post-17081875370481734472020-04-15T12:06:00.000-05:002020-04-15T12:06:31.757-05:00The "new" normal<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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If ever there was a "Toto, I don't think we are in Kansas anymore" like moment, this is it. Yes, we who went through President Kennedy's assassination, the murder of MLK, of Bobby Kennedy, the riots of 1968, OPEC oil shutoffs....<br />
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Wait a minute.<br />
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We made it through that. Yes we did. And we made it through 9/11, the 23 Gulf Wars that followed, and the last three elections. And we will make it through this.<br />
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<b><i>We were completely overwhelmed — beyond our strength — so that we even despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death, so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a terrible death, and He will deliver us. We have put our hope in Him that He will deliver us again </i></b>(2 Cor 1:8-10)<br />
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I've been reading lately a great deal about the beginning and spread of the early church. If any pastor thinks he or she has had to make a giant shift in the way we do ministry, I challenge you to look back at the shift from Torah, temple, sacrificial offerings and the like to One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism over a weekend.<br />
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Resurrection happened and all LOVE was let loose.<br />
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That's our opportunity today. Can we, in our approved social distancing bunker lives now realize that we've been given the chance to spread the love of Jesus to more people via the internet and our watch parties or invitations to our friends to watch than ever. EVER. <br />
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So given we ARE GOING TO MAKE IT THROUGH THIS, how can we LOVE MORE?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9301412.post-77418235829743819892016-07-09T17:37:00.000-05:002016-07-09T17:37:04.659-05:00Well done, good and faithful servant<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; position: relative;">
I just received word that the Anderson's beloved friend Lucy has passed away. Their hearts are broken at their loss. Please pray that God would provide the healing for their hearts and peace for their spirits at this very, very tough time.</div>
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It's the only flaw dogs have really, they live too few years. The following is the post I wrote when Lucy came home with them almost 6 years ago. </div>
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"A dog is the only thing on this earth that loves you more than he loves himself." <span style="line-height: 1.4;">Josh Billings</span></div>
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Things are about to change at the Anderson's house.<br /><br />Lucy the dog is coming to her forever home.<br /><br />To look at the Andersons you wouldn't think they lacked a thing - they are a great family. Awesome dad and mom and great son -my friend Ian. They even have a cat.<br /><br />But they've lacked something without really knowing it. They've lacked the love of dog.<br /><br />From the earliest recorded history, people and dogs have been together. Of all the species that inhabit this earth, none has bonded with humans like the dog. Countless stories have been written about dogs that found their way home over hundreds of miles, that remained faithful to owners who had passed away, who gave everything they had as long as they could. Dogs have given their lives to save us, have rescued us from all manners of harm, and warned us of dangers we could never have seen. They've lowered our blood pressure and given us someone to talk to.<br /><br />But their greatest work is in giving us a living example of how to love unconditionally.<br /><br />The love of dog.<br /><br />Sometime Sunday afternoon, Lucy the dog will come home.<br /><br />And that home will never be the same.</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9301412.post-11045952603762500722016-07-04T19:15:00.001-05:002016-07-04T19:15:42.706-05:00First Things First<div style="text-align: center;">
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Today is July the 4th. Here at the Wilson home, we've finished the cookout and are getting ready for tonight's fireworks. One has to precede the other and well, we might as well eat. While we're waiting I started thinking about how amazing it is to be a part of it all- the great experiment that is America.<br />
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What made America different? Why, among all the nations that have come and gone, is she looked to as a model - a lighthouse to the world - that "City on a Hill"?<br />
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You can look over the incredible beauty of our land. You can see the works of the hands and the warmth of the hearts of our people. You can measure our strength and the valor of those who serve her. But first things first.<br />
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<i>We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...</i><br />
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As the men who "pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor" wrote their explanation to the world in the form of a "Declaration of Independence", setting out on a course that would lead to America - before they unpacked their grievances with Britain, they found within them something pure and God-given.<br />
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Before one single battle was fought, before any laws were passed, before the first coin was struck, before a flag was flown, America wanted to be known as the nation who recognized that some things surpassed preferences, local culture, or national identity. "We hold these truths to be self-evident..."<br />
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First things first.<br />
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So how can we incorporate that in our busy and hectic lives? How can we make sure we are living purposeful lives? That we are putting our energies into what matters, and holding as convictions those things that place us into the center of God's will?<br />
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19 "Don't store up treasures here on earth, where they can be eaten by moths and get rusty, and where thieves break in and steal. 20Store your treasures in heaven, where they will never become moth-eaten or rusty and where they will be safe from thieves. 21Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will also be. Matthew 6 (NLT)<br />
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"Wherever your treasure is..."<br />
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A friend of mine in California has five kids - all boys under 15. They play every sport known to man and some that they just make up. He lives in a nice neighborhood where people take great pride in the appearance of their homes and their yards. The wear and tear on his yard doesn't help him keep up. One night after agonizing over what to do about it, he went back inside and walked past the bedrooms of his sons as they slept. Looking at them for a minute, he left and went into his garage and went straight from there out to the lawn.<br />
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The next morning, his neighbors who passed by noticed the new sign.<br />
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"We're raising sons now. Grass later."<br />
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First things first. Make God the center of your life. Look to Him and through His Word at your life, your values, your desires. Set your priorities based on nothing other than your love and devotion to Him. If you love Him, you'll hold His truths to be "self-evident" and your life as the "evidence" of His love.<br />
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Grace! And May God Bless America.<br />
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DavidUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9301412.post-14770961964951948592016-07-03T17:00:00.000-05:002016-07-03T15:41:22.877-05:00Maybe this time... thoughts about Pickett's charge<img src="http://curbowfamily.files.wordpress.com/2011/04/gettysburg1.jpg" /><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Growing up a generation ago in Middle Georgia meant that I was presented with a worldview far different than that kids receive today. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It was the South, before the advent of air conditioning, when the echoes of the civil war still were heard. Every child in school was taught a particular version of history, long on the heroic actions of people like Robert E. Lee and short on a real examination of why the war was fought.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I devoured the biographies, poured over the battles, and tried to imagine being there. Everything I wanted to know about what the war was like occurred during the first three days in July 1963 - at Gettysburg. I've fought that battle so many times - in turn by turn board games, computer simulations - and watched every movie ever made. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And every time I did it I wondered, what was it like to walk out of the trees with General Pickett and walk directly into the hell of the center of the Union lines. To risk it all for a cause bigger than myself. To decide with that first step, to lay down my life if that's what it took.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I was not alone. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">From the pen of William Faulkner...</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 1.5em;"><i>For every Southern boy fourteen years old, not once but whenever he wants it, there is the instant when it's still not yet two o'clock on that July afternoon in 1863, the brigades are in position behind the rail fence, the guns are laid and ready in the woods and the furled flags are already loosened to break out and Pickett himself with his long oiled ringlets and his hat in one hand probably and his sword in the other looking up the hill waiting for Longstreet to give the word and it's all in the balance, it hasn't happened yet, it hasn't even begun yet, it not only hasn't begun yet but there is still time for it not to begin against that position and those circumstances which made more men than Garnett and Kemper and Armistead and Wilcox look grave yet it's going to begin, we all know that, we have come too far with too much at stake and that moment doesn't need even a fourteen-year-old boy to think ...This time. </i></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 1.5em;"><i>Maybe this time </i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; line-height: 1.5em;"><i>with all this much to lose than all this much to gain: Pennsylvania, Maryland, the world, the golden dome of Washington itself to crown with desperate and unbelievable victory the desperate gamble, the cast made two years ago. </i></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 1.5em;">— </span><cite style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5em;"><b>William Faulkner <i>Intruder in the Dust</i></b></cite></div>
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<cite><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal;">But that victory was not to be. </span></cite></div>
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<cite><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal;">Thank God.</span></cite></div>
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<cite><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 1.5em;">Though the men who fought for the South fought skillfully, bled and died sacrificially, and though most of them would have told you that they fought for Georgia, or Virginia or their home state, the fact that the leaders of the Confederacy decided to incorporate the continuation of slavery in their </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 27px;">constitution</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal; line-height: 1.5em;"> meant they were on the wrong side of history. They had a valid point about state's rights. Had they acknowledged the wrong that slavery was, and then fought their battles, things could have been different. </span></span></span></cite></div>
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<cite><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; line-height: 1.5em;">The boy I was didn't see that. </span></span></span></cite></div>
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<cite><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-style: normal; line-height: 1.5em;">All he could see was an open field, unfurled colors, and George Pickett raising his sword. The chance to have your belief measured against the real possibility of death. To offer your all for a cause.</span></span></span></cite></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;">Ironic I suppose that years later I surrendered to a cause far greater. And I step out of the woods and advance against the culture every day as a follower of Jesus. To give it all.</span></span></div>
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</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9301412.post-86922729178174274502016-06-25T15:30:00.001-05:002016-07-01T21:41:55.421-05:00Admirer or Disciple?<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14.85px; line-height: 20.79px; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.79px;">One of the people whose works and writings have profoundly affected my view of God, or of following Jesus, and who still inspire me is Clarence Jordan. Clarence was a graduate of the University of Georgia with a degree in Agriculture, then went on to Southern Seminary and earned a Masters and Doctorate. He was a farmer and a New Testament scholar. In the early 1940's Jordan and his wife found a piece of property in Sumter County near Americus Georgia and founded "Koinonia Farm", an experiment in Christian community that crossed the racial boundaries that so characterized the South of that time.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">During this time Clarence approached his brother Robert Jordan, later state senator and justice of the Georgia Supreme Court, asking him to represent Koinonia Farm legally. His brother replied, “Clarence, I can’t do that. You know my political aspirations. Why, if I represented you, I might lose my job, my house, everything I’ve got.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">“We might lose everything, too, Bob,” Clarence reminded him. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Jordan continued, “I remember, it seems to me, that you and I joined the church the same Sunday, as boys. I expect when we came forward the preacher asked me about the same question he did you. He asked me, ‘Do you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior?’ and I said, ‘Yes.’ What did you say?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">“I follow Jesus, Clarence, up to a point,” Robert replied.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">“Could that point be…the cross?” asked Clarence pointedly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;"><br />“That’s right. I follow him to the cross, but not on the cross. I’m not getting myself crucified.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Clarence said, “Then I don’t believe you’re a disciple. You’re an admirer of Jesus, but not a disciple of his. I think you ought to go back to the church you belong to, and tell them you’re an admirer, not a disciple.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Ouch!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">But isn't that true of more of us than we'd like to admit? We get squeezed between our professed love for Jesus and "the real world" of work, of money, of family, of status, of class, of rank, of whatever, and that old tempter starts whispering sweet nothings in our ear. And we listen, especially when we're hard pressed. Instead of setting our faces like flint, we gradually turn away from the hard path, the tough places thinking that movement away will bring the comfort and blessings we really want and believe we deserve.</span></div>
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<span style="display: block; line-height: 1.5em; text-indent: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: super;">29</span> <span style="color: red;">“Yes,”</span> Jesus replied, <span style="color: red;">“and I assure you that everyone who has given up house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the Kingdom of God,</span><span style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: super;">30</span> <span style="color: red;">will be repaid many times over in this life, and will have eternal life in the world to come.”</span></span></span></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 20.79px;">Luke 18:29-30 (NLT)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">When are we going to learn that we cannot out give God? When will we realize that the way "forward" means leaving the values of this world behind? When will we follow Jesus past "that point"?</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Lots of people are stuck because they use the wrong standard of measurement. Are you faithfully following Jesus? Then let no one keep you from continuing.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">But if you are not... if you are primarily interested in how you benefit... if it's always about YOU.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;">Then go back in repentance to the church you belong to and tell them you are sorry and that you want to be a follower, not an admirer.</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9301412.post-17563051745204194832016-06-20T19:29:00.002-05:002016-06-29T23:07:26.778-05:00So, You Want To Be A Pastor... <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #333333; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18.915px;">So, You Want To Be A Pastor...</span><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 18.915px;"> </span><br style="color: #333333; line-height: 18.915px;" /><br style="color: #333333; line-height: 18.915px;" /><span style="color: #333333; font-style: italic; line-height: 18.915px;">One day as Jesus was walking along the shore beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers--Simon, also called Peter, and Andrew--fishing with a net, for they were commercial fishermen. 19Jesus called out to them, "Come, be my disciples, and I will show you how to fish for people!" 20And they left their nets at once and went with him.</span><span style="color: #333333; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18.915px;">Matthew 4:21-23</span><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 18.915px;"> </span><br style="color: #333333; line-height: 18.915px;" /><br style="color: #333333; line-height: 18.915px;" /><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 18.915px;">There are times when I have to laugh about the position God has placed me into. Here's a guy who was after the American Dream - had a great job with one of the best companies on earth, great family, new car, new house.. etc. We had just finished a year within which we had reached a level of income we had never seen before. Our friends at church were great, the church was growing, and we were a part of it. Word within the church was I was a shoo in for deacon. </span><br style="color: #333333; line-height: 18.915px;" /><br style="color: #333333; line-height: 18.915px;" /><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 18.915px;">Then God went and made me a pastor. I sure didn't see that coming, but it was clear to me and to others I trusted that God was calling me to serve His church.</span><br style="color: #333333; line-height: 18.915px;" /><br style="color: #333333; line-height: 18.915px;" /><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 18.915px;">Which leaves me wide open for questions like </span><span style="color: #333333; font-style: italic; line-height: 18.915px;">why?</span><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 18.915px;"> </span><br style="color: #333333; line-height: 18.915px;" /><br style="color: #333333; line-height: 18.915px;" /><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 18.915px;">If it was in pursuit of accomplishment - well I'll have you know I had already achieved great success. </span><br style="color: #333333; line-height: 18.915px;" /><br style="color: #333333; line-height: 18.915px;" /><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 18.915px;">For example, were you aware that I had sold the first full page color Pepto Bismol ad in the known world? Ha! Didn't think so. </span><span style="color: #333333; line-height: 18.915px;">Or that I had sold 23 trucks full of Folgers coffee, marking the single biggest purchase on record for that brand? No? Well, now you know. And I hope you also know that compared to a person coming to know Christ or growing deeper in ther faith, that stuff's so lame.</span></span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you decide to go into the ministry though, I should tell you that you'll have to learn a lot more about failure than accomplishment. And instead of trusting in your skill or passion, you'll have to learn to rely on the power of the Holy Spirit even when it seems He's nowhere to be found. Trust Him.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Now there will be times when everything goes well and people will single you out as a great pastor and leader, and then there will be times when things are running the wrong way and people look to you to make something happen and wonder if you can. But you have to know in your heart that all you've done from the very beginning is to love God, love His people, and try to give both your best. Any success has come from God and if it's dry right now, then He's still at work, just in a different way. Follow Him.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You'll have to come to grips with the knowledge that there will always be people who question your motives and wisdom. It'll happen more at first, but after almost 17 years here and over 20 years as a pastor, it still happens. Love them.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Sometimes there will be people who come but are at cross purposes with what the church is and hopes to be and that you still have to love them, but you don't have to let them have their way. In fact, you can't - because you're the pastor, and the good pastor lays down his life for the sheep. You'll pray for them, talk with them, and try to make them understand God's call on your church. Not the one across town or across the oceans. The church you serve. Stay true to that call. Follow the Holy Spirit's direction. </span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some people will leave, and you have to wish God's best for them, even if you believe they are leaving just that. Even if you've stood up for them to others. Even if you've given them your time. And then you have to believe that it is all part of God's plan and keep praying, keep loving, and keep preaching the Word. Does it hurt? Oh yes. Sometimes it rips your heart and that of your family. When you've prayed literally hours for someone and been there during some of the events of their life, it's tough. Guess it should be. If you don't care for people, don't you dare become a pastor.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There are stresses and strains in your life that no one will see. We've had to make use of the church food pantry too many times. Racing the Gulf Power cut off guy home gets old. We got really good and pinching pennies, but after over 20 years as a pastor I've never equalled what I made the year before I became one. When you get to the church on Christmas Eve, check the mailbox and find that your check has bounced, it takes a deep faith to stick that slip in your pocket and go lift people's eyes to the cross. My wife and my family have paid a price for my answering the call. It can destroy a marriage - it can ruin a life - several lives. I was blessed with a wife who has been more and done more for the churches I have served than anyone will ever know. And my sons - well I hope they saw that their Dad did his best. If money matters a lot to you, this is the wrong career field.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I have fewer years ahead than I have behind me, and I'm bivocational now instead of full time. But there's never a day that I'm not praying, not studying/ reading in some way to be a better pastor, a better communicator. I'm always looking for ways to see New Hope grow. We've tried some that did great, and some that didn't. But you have to keep trying to connect people to God and to people. It can be frustrating to have to build the consensus and gather the volunteers to get something done. But it's worth it, and there are many times that if you'll listen, some of the best ideas you will ever hear come from them.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One day I'll no longer be the pastor of a church. I'll still be God's servant, but I'll be serving in a different role. I don't know when that will be, but I know when it comes I'll be praying every day for <b>my</b> pastor, and seeking to do whatever <b>I can</b> to help him as he works for God.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Pastor - It's a hard, hard job. It's a thankless one from the world's point of view. But keep following Him. Keep loving His people.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For the knowledge that you served Jesus... now that makes it all worthwhile.</span></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9301412.post-14201842867818656512016-06-01T11:19:00.000-05:002016-06-15T11:21:43.264-05:00Every Day - devotional for June 1<div class="MsoNormal">
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There are a lot of people who can work hard for a while,
care for a while, love for a while, give of themselves for a while. They leave
behind them a legacy of inconsistency and frayed or broken relationships with
people and with God. </div>
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In their jobs, they can’t be counted on. </div>
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As parents, they
raise kids who never know what the boundaries are. </div>
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As husbands or wives, they
tend to make everything about them – the “me” trumps the “we” that makes
marriage work.</div>
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What’s the answer? </div>
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<b>24</b> Then Jesus went to work on his disciples.
"Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the
driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll
show you how. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>25</b> Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice
is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. Matt 16 (MSG)</div>
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The secret to a life that leaves a lasting legacy is in
those verses. </div>
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Let Jesus lead.</div>
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Embrace life’s hardships. </div>
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Follow Jesus every day. </div>
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EVERY DAY. </div>
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Do it and find peace.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9301412.post-31482412976230065322015-11-15T11:00:00.000-05:002015-11-15T11:00:05.771-05:00To Live By Faith<h3 class="post-title entry-title" style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; position: relative;">
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<em style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">With desperate and hungry people camped all over the church lawn, Jesus turns, then and now, to his followers and speaks what is either a cruel joke or lavish divine humor: "They need not go away; you give them something to eat" (M.t 14:16). The disciples, fully aware that their own resources are not up to the magnitude of the need (<a class="vl-anchor" data-passage="Mt1417" href="http://ebible.com/query?utf=8%E2%9C%93&query=Mt%2014%3A17&translation=ESV&redirect_iframe=http://www.patheos.com/ebible" style="border: 0px; color: #275d74; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">Mt 14:17</a>) nonetheless trust that the jest is a divine one and obey Jesus</em>. Thomas G. <span style="line-height: 1.3em;">Long</span></div>
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Jesus' words "You give them something to eat," are a "divine jest." They are a daily dare. He's saying "I dare you to take me at my word. And see what happens. "</div>
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A few years ago, a few New Hope folks began helping out with the "Supper on Saturday" meal distribution. It's a wonderful program that brings together people from the local Methodist mega-church as well as others from other churches in trying to meet the needs of the poor among us all. After that experience, we reasoned that if some were taking 6 meals for two people, then perhaps the need was greater than just on Saturday. We were already cooking meals for anyone who came on Wednesday night, so what's a little more?</div>
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You see the picture of the shelves above? That's our pantry for the meals. It looked pretty low when that picture was taken, and it's been lower. But for 4 years, we have cooked, packed, and delivered anywhere from eighty to one-hundred twenty meals every Wednesday night. We've never missed a Wednesday, regardless of weather or holidays.</div>
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It's been part of the "daily dare" that is the walk of faith at New Hope.</div>
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During the last six years, our church has weathered severe financial hardship, coming out of debt, and dealing with the lack of resources in a way that turned a challenge into a "see what happens" chance to truly see what God can do with our faith. Our treasurer and I on many occasions have shared a private laugh over what our bank balance was, what our obligations were, and how somehow, someway, God always, always, always got us through. One week I shared that we had $1.21 in the bank during a Wednesday night prayer meeting, and my beloved church family burst out in applause. "Look what God did tonight with $1.21" one man said. "We delivered 120 meals" for less than what you could find in the couch cushions."</div>
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Now we've done what we could. I've returned to bivocational status, working as a teacher to cut overhead. We're notoriously frugal as a church when it comes to spending on things. But I believe we are notoriously generous when it comes to spending on helping people - wherever they may be. And right now I sense God beginning to move us to do more.</div>
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Friend, we're just normal people. There are a lot of ways we could improve. But I don't think we can improve on the call of Jesus to come along and see what He can do with folks who don't have much, but are willing to see what He can do with it.</div>
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Shameless plug: If you want to be a part of a church that hasn't forgotten why we're here, and tries very hard to do as much as we can, for as many as we can - come join us at New Hope. Oh and bring some green beans - we could use them for this week's meal. :)</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9301412.post-60289121369651535432015-11-11T22:39:00.000-05:002015-11-11T22:39:04.777-05:00Read This<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Do just the opposite of what the world calls you to do. Dive deep into a community of people who call themselves a church. Expose your best and worst sides to them. Experience their worst and their best. Love them anyway as they love you. Don't go looking for the "best" this or that. Don't go seeking to have your "needs" met. Find an imperfect place filled with imperfect people and spend the rest of your life trying to meet their needs and the needs of the souls God puts into your path.<br />
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And if you're in one of those places right now...<br />
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treasure it.<br />
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Thank God for it.<br />
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You may very well find a place that requires far less of you and presents you with that just right music, just right messages, and just right people to share it with.<br />
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But in doing so you are walking away from the HEART of what it means to be a Christian. All those passages like "the last will be first" or "take up your cross daily."<br />
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It shouldn't be easy.<br />
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It should cost you something of your comfortable life.<br />
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Resist.<br />
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Dive deep.<br />
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This post is dedicated to the most real, most raw experience of "church" I have ever known, my beloved New Hope Baptist Church in Valparaiso. You guys are heroes to me and an inspiration every moment you come to mind.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9301412.post-59506421162697134202015-09-12T19:17:00.000-05:002015-09-12T19:17:33.580-05:00The hardest kind of love<div style="text-align: center;">
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src="data:image/jpeg;base64,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" /></div>
Our friends Larry and JoAnn have a dog that is nearing the point of death as I write this and it's tearing them up. His furry friend has been a part of their lives for many years and today he's not responding to them or interested in food or water. Death seems near.<br />
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Those of us who are loved by dogs go into each new relationship knowing that we almost certainly will not only have the joy of receiving the love of a new friend, but that we will also have the deep sorrow of our parting. For this very reason, many people choose to never have another dog - the bitter pain of losing one is just too much to bear.<br />
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Choosing to be there as they pass, whether naturally or with a vet's help, is one of the most gut-wrenching things I've ever experienced. One of our dogs was tragically taken from us in a freak accident, but the very last movement she made was to wag her tag one last time as I reached her fallen form.<br />
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With another furry friend, Bunny and Sean eased her passage by talking to her and petting her, though their tears were falling, until she left.<br />
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And Sean and I were there when our big friend Henley the Great Dane was eased into the next life to spare him the agony of the bone cancer that had riddled his leg. With the possibility of his next step causing an agonizing fracture, we laid on the floor by him as the drugs did their work. I have never loved a dog as much as Henley, and we only had him for 7 years.<br />
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Freddie the mini schnauzer has been with JoAnn and Larry for more than 15.<br />
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So if you read this, pray for those who love enough to walk the last mile with their friends.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9301412.post-51738864374674490482015-08-19T22:42:00.001-05:002015-08-19T22:42:31.233-05:00Considering the cost<div style="text-align: center;">
<img alt="Image result for consider the cost" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTSCDLBi4aW9hP1LRiNlse51o0qF0r5WscZPdjHh2dGABdbN2qt" /></div>
Many years ago, there was a ridiculously young couple who had their first child. He was a healthy boy, and he was named David Adam. I was working a pretty dead end, high effort low reward job, and Bunny was doing the same. We were doing our best to provide for our family, but we thought it took everything both of us could earn to make it. So we looked for someone who could keep Adam, and after looking, talking to people, and choosing a woman who was a stay home mom herself, Bunny went back to work.<br />
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It wasn't very long until the day that Bunny picked up our baby boy on the way home from work and our treasure had a scratch on him that he couldn't have made. His nanny's explanation wasn't one at all. That night, we looked at our income, then we looked at our son, and Bunny went to work the next day and quit.<br />
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The cost was so high that we couldn't pay it.<br />
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A few years later, I still wasn't getting anywhere at that dead end job. I was always interested in electronics so I started an electronic technician course. Four days a week I would leave work and go directly to my class and get home after 10:30. About half way through the course, Adam started asking where daddy was all the time. I quit.<br />
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The cost was so high, that we couldn't pay it.<br />
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On this night sixteen years ago, Bunny, Sean and I spent our first night in Valparaiso. It was also the first night we were ever apart as a family, since our oldest son Adam decided to stay in Macon, and we decided not to force him to come. Out of all the decisions we have <b>ever </b>made, it is this one that carries with it the deepest regrets.<br />
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There are many moments, many events that we have been through since we have been here that I remember through my grin as I remember them. And there have been times when we've been wounded that we work to not remember, believing that the salve of grace and forgiveness would heal. And it has, though there remain the faint outline of scars.<br />
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We'll bear that cost..<br />
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Looking back, we have literally chosen to forgo what the world would call a comfortable life again and again because for Bunny and me, to not do so would have been to turn our backs on the things that matter most to us - our God and our family.<br />
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And we would do it again, considering the cost.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9301412.post-10579734963065029902015-08-04T19:00:00.000-05:002015-08-04T23:00:53.659-05:00A New Operating System<div style="text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=9301412" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g-AvLHAvFpA/VcGKZ2Le08I/AAAAAAAAQV0/UmLNmvRDgKk/s1600/windows-10-logo-2-540x334.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="197" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g-AvLHAvFpA/VcGKZ2Le08I/AAAAAAAAQV0/UmLNmvRDgKk/s320/windows-10-logo-2-540x334.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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You're reading the very first devotional I have ever written using the Windows 10 operating system. For the less geeky among us, the operating system (Windows, OSX, Linux) is what makes the computer more than a collection of interesting electronic parts. Valuable those parts may be, but unless some program tells them how to live and how to live together - they're just parts.<br />
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I'm kind of liking it. Sure there are some things that I am having to learn, and some things that were in Windows 7 that I'll have to do without, but life is lived forward and I want to be sure that this guy stays up to date and ready for the next challenge.<br />
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Well, I'm sitting here thinking that there are some real parallels to what happens when a person begins their journey with Jesus. When they allow God to work within their lives, they receive a new "operating system." Then God uses them to bless other people and to tell everyone who will listen that what He's offering can't be bought for any price, He's already paid that through Jesus. But that in order to use the new operating system, <i><b>you have to choose to change.</b></i><br />
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So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life— your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life— and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. 2 Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. <i><b>You'll be changed from the inside out.</b></i> Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you. Romans 12:1-2 (MSG)<br />
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Changed from the inside out. That's how God works within us to change the way we think and make us what we were created to be.<br />
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Think about it. Maybe it's time to change your operating system.<br />
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Grace and peace to you,<br />
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DavidUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9301412.post-10510365627491751412015-07-25T20:46:00.001-05:002015-07-25T20:46:14.178-05:00Can you laminate love?<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I've been sitting here reading a laminated card that someone put together to explain how a person can be saved (or begin a relationship with God.) They've listed several steps one would need to take and quoted verses from the Bible as proof texts for each.</span><br />
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My feeling right now is, their intent was to cordon off what they believe and then by giving it to me, to help me gain an understanding of just how those beliefs align with ours.</span><br />
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But I keep thinking about the love God has given in Jesus and wonder... can you really laminate love?</span><br />
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The laminated pieces I've collected over the years contained things like prayers, or obituaries. In those cases, sure, you could laminate the piece, because it was all it would ever be.</span><br />
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But the love of God?</span><br />
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No.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: 4px;">18</span> And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. <span style="font-weight: bold; vertical-align: 4px;">19</span> May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Eph 3:18-19 (NLT)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Could we with ink the ocean fill,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And were the skies of parchment made,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Were every stalk on earth a quill,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And every man a scribe by trade;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">To write the love of God above<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Would drain the ocean dry;<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nor would the scroll contain the whole,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Though stretched from sky to sky.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I think that covers it for me.</span><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9301412.post-89289008586027345042015-06-30T15:28:00.000-05:002015-06-30T15:28:30.827-05:00Ruthless<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Here below find the words of John Baillie as written in his "A Diary of Private Prayer." The language may be archaic at times, but as I read it, I found myself wondering how many of we Christians today would be willing to submit ourselves daily to such a ruthless self-examination of the practice of our faith in Jesus. All I could say after I read this was "Lord have mercy on me, a sinner."</div>
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O merciful Father, who dost look down upon the weaknesses of Thy human children more in pity than in anger, and more in love than in pity, let me know in Thy holy presence inquire into the secrets of my heart.<br />Have I today done anything to fulfill the purpose for which Thou didst cause me to be born?<br />Have I accepted such opportunities of service as Thou in Thy wisdom hast set before my feet?<br />Have I performed without omission the plain duties of the day?<br /> Give me grace to answer honestly, O God.<br />Have I today done anything to tarnish my Christian ideal of manhood?<br />Have I been lazy in body or languid in spirit?<br />Have I wrongfully indulged my bodily appetites?<br />Have I kept my imagination pure and healthy?<br />Have I been scrupulously honorable in all my business dealings?<br />Have I been transparently sincere in all I have professed to be, to feel, or to do?<br /> Give me grace to answer honestly, O God.<br />Have I tried today to see myself as others see me?<br />Have I made more excuses for myself than I have been willing to make for others?<br />Have I, in my own home, been a peacemaker or have I stirred up strife?<br />Have I, while professing noble sentiments for great causes and distant objects, failed even in common charity and courtesy toward those nearest to me?<br /> Give me grace to answer honestly, O God.<br />O Thou, whose infinite love, made manifest in Jesus Christ, alone has the power to destroy the empire of evil in my soul, grant that with each day that passes I may more and more be delivered from my besetting sins.<br />Amen.</blockquote>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9301412.post-28924350922926323122015-06-29T14:05:00.000-05:002015-06-29T14:05:43.212-05:00Moving the Stakes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Fred Craddock often told the wonderful story about that remarkable evening during his childhood when his father called him out into the backyard of his home in Tennessee. Fred's father asked him to lie down in the summer grass beside him and to look up at the stars... and then he asked, "Son, how far can you think?"</div>
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And Fred said, "What?"</div>
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His father asked again, "How far can you think?"</div>
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"Well, I don't know what you mean."</div>
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"Just think as far as you can think up toward those stars."</div>
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And so, said Fred, I screwed my imagination down, and I said, "I'm thinking... I'm thinking... I'm thinking."</div>
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His dad said, "Think as far as you can think now."</div>
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After a while Fred said, "I'm thinking as far as I can think."</div>
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"OK then. Drive down a stake out there at that point. In your mind, drive down a stake. Have you driven down the stake? That's how far you can think?"</div>
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Fred said, "Yes, sir."</div>
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And his father said, "Now, Fred, what's on the other side of your stake?"</div>
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Fred said, "Well, there's more sky."</div>
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And his father said, "Then, you'd better move your stake." </div>
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(from a sermon by Robert Dunham)</div>
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Lately I've been reading far more than I have in a long time. Most of the year is an exhausting blur where I bounce between tasks like a steel ball in a pinball machine. Contemplation gives way to a pragmatic "Git R' Done" mindset.</div>
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But it's summer, now.</div>
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And God is at work... calling me to examine who I am in Him and how faithfully I am carrying out His purpose.</div>
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When I think I've "moved my stakes" about as far as I dare, then that still, small voice whispers "more." </div>
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I wonder if that's what Peter felt that night when Christ called him to step out of the boat?<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0