The BIBLE!

The Bible is the only book whose Author is always present when one reads it. --- Unknown

Psalm 119:103 - 105 says, "How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." God's word means so much to us. It is hard to imagine life without it. His word is sweet to our taste, gives us understanding which helps us identify and hate every false way, and is a lamp that lights our path. Can we imagine life without God's word? Is God's word truly important in our lives? Do we do the word or do we just listen to it? Thank you God for your word.

How many do we know who are like this?

According to Philippians 3:3 we Christians who do the following, are the true circumcision:

1. Worship God in the spirit,

2. Rejoice in Christ Jesus.

3.Have no confidence in the flesh.

How many do we know who are like this?

Harvest field

Use me, God, in Thy great harvest field,
Which stretcheth far and wide like a wide sea;
The gatherers are so few; I fear the precious yield
Will suffer loss. Oh, find a place for me!
Christina G. Rossetti

May God place each of us in the field where good fruit will come forth.

A very small marigold!

I sat looking at the beautiful flowers in my wife's garden and marveled at how lovely the flowers were. Even though it was now the fall season and many flowers had faded, there were still flowers shining out their beauty for all to see. As I leaned forward in my chair I spotted a very small marigold sparkling forth with life. This was no normal marigold, this marigold was not even the size of an eraser on the end of a pencil and yet there it was in the front of the taller flowers being fully open and as beautiful as, if not more so than all of the other flowers. The gold with red center was striking in color enabling this very small flower to bless me as I saw it, the same way the rest of the flowers did. In God's kingdom we are all beautiful and a blessing to others, with no one to big and no one to small and everyone just right, (This thought came from a story that Chuck Swindoll wrote in his book, "Growing strong in the Seasons of Life". Hopefully we all will be able to see a very small marigold the same way we see the larger and more dominant flowers. I also hope we can see the grace shining forth in all of our brothers and sister as well . Blessings to you all.

It is like licking honey off of a thorn!

Someone once said, "living can be like licking honey off of a thorn." Jesus said in John 16:33, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace.In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world." As we walk with Jesus day by day, we will have peace in the midst of all the tribulation that the world throws at us. Jesus overcame it all and so can we through him.

Keep your eye on the mark!

I watched a teenager standing at the bus stop, only he wasn't standing, he was walking around and around in circles. I'm not sure what he was doing but he sure wasn't getting anywhere. Someone once told me "if a person aims at nothing in life, it is sure he will hit nothing." We need to keep our eyes on the mark in these difficult times.

In Hebrews 12: 1-4 we read the following words that will help keep us from going around and around in circles and help keep our eyes on the mark, "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. Ye have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin." May the Lord help us all to keep looking unto Jesus who is the author and finisher of our faith.

A fork in the road

I remember the time that our family was traveling to Phoenix and we decided to take a different route. We have traveled from Colorado to Phoenix many times throughout the years and were looking for some different scenery. So off of our regular route we go and turned west at Walsenburg and were soon in the SW edge of New Mexico and were heading west out of Shiprock. We decided that we were going to cut across the Navajo nation. I chose what I thought would be a good route and headed south. We stopped for gas and I asked for directions and the attendant said to turn right at the fork in the road which had a sign. We came to a fork in the road and sure enough there was a sign written in Navajo on a scrap piece of wood. I stopped and we looked at the sign which didn't make sense to us, and decided that it just might be a sign for a family reunion for all we knew. I continued straight and sure enough, we had missed our turn which took us several extra hours to reach or designation. We did see a lot of new scenery on that trip, and all it took was a lot of extra time. The moral of the story? You decide.

We have been given a map to guide us throughout our journey here on earth. It is God's word, the Bible which is also a love letter to us from God. It has a simple plot with one hero, Jesus, one villain, Satan, and one purpose, showing us how to live our lives glorifying God and being victorious over Satan so that we receive eternal life. As we travel on this journey, let's follow the directions, which tell us that Jesus is the only way to get to God and heaven, and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Are we checking our maps daily to refresh ourselves with the course that we should be on?

Thank you for your prayers. On Wednesday I received, through surgery, radiation seed implants into the cancer that is in my prostate gland. Please pray with us that the seeds will do their job. Thank you! Hope you have a good weekend. Blessing to you.