The Gifts…

Remember your birthday?  How there were stacks of presents and all for you?  Could you contain your excitement? But then all of the people around, you just lose interest in the presents, I mean they can be opened later, why not spend time together and worry about those presents later…

I do not know many people who would react this way to having a stack of gifts to open, or even one gift to open.  We rip into that paper as fast as we can to get at what we are getting.  We want to know what it is.  We want to have it.

Yet God gives us gifts, and we are less apt to be moved by them, or even recognize them.  We pass over them so quickly and get on with the important stuff happening all around us.  Shouldn’t we be more moved by God’s gifts, which will last a lot longer than the iPod, or whatever else we got from our friends and family.

Rip into the wrapping on the best gifts we will ever get.

 

Bank Account

I received this in an email and thought it was worth sharing.

A 92-year-old, petite, well-poised and proud man, who is fully dressed each morning by eight o’clock, with his hair fashionably combed and shaved perfectly, even though he is legally blind, moved to a nursing home today.
His wife of 70 years recently passed away, making the move necessary. After many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, he smiled sweetly when told his room was ready.
As he maneuvered his walker to the elevator, I provided a visual description of his tiny room, including the eyelet sheets that had been hung on his window. I love it,’ he stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy.
Mr. Jones, you haven’t seen the room; just wait.’
‘That doesn’t have anything to do with it,’ he replied.
Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time.
Whether I like my room or not doesn’t depend on how the furniture is arranged … it’s how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it. ‘It’s a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do.
Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I’ll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I’ve stored away.. Just for this time in my life.
Old age is like a bank account. You withdraw from what you’ve put in.
So, my advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories!
Thank you for your part in filling my Memory Bank. I am still depositing.
‘Remember the five simple rules to be happy:
1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.

Called by name!

“we are called by your name; do not leave us.”

God has called each of us by name.  In our Baptismal service we heard the words Name, I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. And then we heard the words “Name, child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.”  You have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever.  You have been joined with Christ in his death and have the promise of being joined to him in his resurrection.  He will never leave us or forsake us.

But do we not all question that?  Do we not all wonder if we have done enough, or done the right things to get us to belong in heaven?  Have we not said “we are called by your name, do not leave us alone.”  “God, am I one of your people, why do I feel all alone?”

God through Jesus and the Holy Spirit are with us always, that is the promise from Matthew 28, and I am with you always even until the close of the age.  Forever God is faithful and with us.

Rejoice in your baptism and the fact that you are God’s elected child, named and claimed by him and brother/sister to Christ co heir of the kingdom of God.

Wonderful daddy, bless us in remembering how you have claimed us through your Spirit, and named us as your own. Help us to cling to the promises you have given us all, and show all those we meet how much you love us and them. Amen.

Life’s truisms

Someone has written these beautiful words. One must read and try to understand the deep meanings in them.

They are like the Ten Commandments to follow in life all the time.

1] Prayer is not a “spare wheel” that you pull out when in trouble; it is a “steering wheel” that directs us in the right path throughout life.

2] Do you know why a car’s WINDSHIELD is so large & the rear view mirror is so small? Because our PAST is not as important as our FUTURE. So, look ahead and move on.

3] Friendship is like a BOOK. It takes few seconds to burn, but it takes years to write.

4] All things in life are temporary. If going well enjoy it, they will not last forever. If going wrong don’t worry, they can’t last long either.

5] Old friends are like Gold! New friends are Diamonds! If you get a Diamond, don’t forget the Gold! Because to hold a Diamond, you always need a base of Gold!

6] Often when we lose hope and think this is the end, GOD smiles from above and says, “Relax, sweetheart, it’s just a bend, not the end!

7] When GOD solves your problems, you have faith in HIS abilities; when GOD doesn’t solve your problems HE has faith in your abilities.

8] A blind person asked St. Anthony: “Can there be anything worse than losing eye sight?” He replied: “Yes, losing your vision.”

9] When you pray for others, God listens to you and blesses them; and sometimes, when you are safe and happy, remember that someone has prayed for you.

10] WORRYING does not take away tomorrow’s TROUBLES; it takes away today’s PEACE.

 

Look Right…

My devotion for this morning was on Romans 4:13-25.

Here Paul is writing to the church(es) in Roman.  He is writing to Christians that comes from a Jewish background and a Greek background. They have entered into this religion from many various places and so their history (as all of our history) plays upon their understanding of their religion, and how they worship.  Paul is trying to tell them they have to consider things differently than they have before.

Here is a sermon I preached on this text on March 20, 2011.

A Raw Deal…

Have you ever gotten the short end of the stick?

Been dealt a bad hand?

Not gotten your fair share?

This seems to be the way in life for some people.  They always seems to get a raw deal, and do not get a fair shake.  They are held back by the hand they are dealt and not able to move forward in life.

Have you been there?

In our lesson today that is where all of the people are.  They feel like they were short handed, and so they return the same.  They all deal falsely and try to get the upper hand.  They will not hear the word of the Lord, because it is not helping them get what they want.  No one is seeking after the Lord or listening to his word, and the Lord is sending his prophet to speak to this hard hearted people who have doctored the truth to be in their favor.

We can not doctor the truth to be in our favor.  God wants us to head and follow him in everything we do and say and to act with justice and mercy towards everyone.

So next time you feel like you got a raw deal, get on your knees and ask God what he would have you to do and do it with out question.  This is all God asks of us.

Gracious and loving Father, guide us in our lives to not want what you know we do not need, and for us to be happy with what we need.  Fill us with your love and guide us as we go. Amen.

What songs feed you?

I sit at my desk contemplating a Bible Study for the council meeting for the congregation I serve, and my daily devotions have me thinking about music.

One of the devotions I read talks about how our music tastes change over time.  And then it asked the question what songs feed your faith right now.  My answer to this question has been for a while now the song My Jesus by Todd Agnew.

“My Jesus would never be accepted in my church, the blood and dirt on his feet might stain the carpet…”

I want to be like my Jesus – This song feeds my faith and helps me focus on what God has called me to do – Love unconditionally and allow him to be judge.  Not to make a cushy life for myself.  It is not about me being popular, or successful in human terms.  I am to follow and love unconditionally…

Jesus Help me to be like you.

What has your experience been?

So how has Lent been for you?

Have you deepened your relationship with God? Have you grown in your faith?

My Lent has been one of challenges and deep moments with God. I have seen some of the darkest moments of my life, here and now and from my past, but the light is that God has made. Much deeper impact on my life this Lent. He has walked with me as He always does, but His presence is ever more apparent to me… I have felt my Lord and Savior guiding me and talking to me, and if this is what I get to experience I will take the deep dark valleys, because I know that He will always see me through.

Daddy God, thank you for being ever present with me and guiding me through the hard times that come against me. Help me to stay in you shelter, to rest in your presence, even if the world is raging and storming all around me. You alone give me peace in the midst of life’s wars. Thank you for loving and keeping me, help me to be like you and love all around me, especially those that bring the darkness. Amen!

What will you be when you grow up?

Did you ever wonder what you were going to be when you grow up? Some of us are probably still wondering what we will be when we grow up. We dream about being astronauts, or firemen or women, or police men or women, or the President of the United States. Maybe we wanted to be a carpenter, or a brick layer. My brother wanted to be a garbage man because the trucks were really cool. Or at least that is what he thought when he was 7.

We all have dreams and wonder about what our lives will be. In todays lesson Jeremiah hears, as we hear too, the call of God on his life. God says to all of us, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Before you were born I knew you, God says to you. You are consecrated as a prophet not just to your people, but to the nations, to everyone. And to this Jeremiah (just as all of us would) balks, “but I am just a boy and subject to my parents, what can I do, I can not even speak.”

And then God gives the most important words from this passage. “I have touched you and put my words in you, you will go where I send you and say what I give you. I will be with you and always guide you as my hands and feet.” God told Jeremiah he was in control, and knew what was going to happen. Can we trust God, to follow where he leads and not where we want? Can we trust God to give us the words to say and not speak what we know is right or true?

Dear daddy God, help us to trust you as a baby trusts his parents, for everything. Help us to give you our lives knowing that you have our lives in your hands, and that is the best place they can be. Amen.