No other...

From the book of Isaiah

5  I am the Lord, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
I equip you, though you do not know me,
6  that people may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is none besides me;


Its good for me me to read this.  I need the reminder "I equip you, though you do not know me" and such.  He is faithful even though I am not.

Tender? Humble?

From 1 Peter:

 all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.9 Do not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary, bless, for to this you were called.


A good admonition, especially the first part, for a tender heart and a humble mind.  These are certainly not promoted states in our world today.  Our political and social discourse is too often aimed at the opposite.  I find myself in the same state and have to constantly remind myself of this way of thinking.


...a tender heart and a humble mind....if only I could stay that way, and how I would then bless those around me.....

the Beach

I get to do a lot of thinking while at the beach. While the kids chase the crabs and the tide, I usually sit in the sun and bask in the blessings put before me....those kids, a beautiful wife, all those kids parents (my big kids), many friends, and the freedom to sit on such a lucious example of God's power and creative might. Thoughts flood. This is a more typical time for resolutions than New Years, though I don't declare them

Sowing peace

From James chapter 3:


...wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.  And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.


In a world who rejects the Bible, often for what they've heard about it rather than actually reading it, they miss those kinds of jeweled thoughts.  If we think this way as a society, then won't we move from being concerned with what others might be doing against us and, instead what we are doing for the cause of peace?


Oddly like Christ, who says we are His body...?

Seeing is believing?

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen....3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.


From the 12th chapter of Hebrews....this statement is pretty clear, so why do we spend our time discussing our need for "proof" to believe?  Faith defies that idea, it is a stronger and higher intellectual pursuit to agree to believe because of the choice we make...and THEN we witness the proof, the faith produces the ability to sustain itself in us in a way any proof could never....because proof can change,   the "facts" are assumed to be so until other "facts" come along.  The history of archeology is replete with examples of this.


Faith never changes.

Let it rain another day

Last winter it got pretty cold.
People prayed - "Dear Lord, please make it warmer"

Last spring it got pretty dry.
People prayed - "Dear Lord, please make it rain"

Last week it was hot.
People prayed - "Dear Lord, please make it cooler"

Last night it rained.
People prayed - "Dear Lord, rain, rain, go away..."

I think it must be hard to listen to us.....

To be near

But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.


From Psalm 73.  Critical to believing is understanding WHO He is; and once I settle down to dwell on that, it is true; it is good to be near God.


Good in the sense of my own behavior, protection, guidance, etc., but even more, good to be near Him because iy is pleasant, comfortable, peaceful.

Pro Choice.

"...they were unable to enter because of unbelief. "


This from the book of Hebrews in the New Testament states a sad case, whereby none of us can be where God has designed us to be without belief.  What is sad about this is that belief is a choice, not an accident, an emotion, or a biological response.  It is not intellectual, it is not academic, and it can't be argued.  It is a choice.


And if I know that my choice to believe is what (and only what) will please my Creator, then I should make that simple step....


Choose to believe.

Happy Birthday USA and be careful old girl

The problem with forgetting what freedom is and what is cost is that as each successive generation moves on they do so absent the knowledge of that freedom and of that cost.  It is a sort of "ratcheting" of the Nation's psyche, and to regain it would take an extraordinary act or event.

To check me, ask a high school student some probing questions about freedom in America.  Most have no idea.  Ask them some questions about what communism or socialism takes away - they won't know.  Ask them what freedoms they cherish, what they'd be willing to fight for.    Ask them what WWI or II, what the Civil War, or what Desert Storm were about, and beyond a possible "headline" or 2, most will not know how they relate to freedom.

It's a slow fade.  I fear as this ratchet continues, George Orwell might have been right after all, just got the year wrong.

Missed it by that much....

And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.4 Nevertheless, the high places were not taken away. The people still sacrificed and made offerings on the high places.


This is one of the most repeated phrases, in one form or the other, in the history of Israel as told in the Old Testament.  Interesting, because it does represent me so much.


In the first place, do I "do right in the eyes of the Lord"?  If so, good, then do I make sure "the high places are taken away"?


Its not enough to be a good boy and continue to allow the worship the things that deny God's preeminence.  He's not an "equal opportunity god"; He's an absolute monarch.  (another reason we need to keep social studies in school).

So what?

So Anderson Cooper announced he's gay.  Who cares?

I'm heterosexual.  I don't tell anyone, it's none of their business.  Why does he think I care?  Does it make him more valuable?  Nope.

Sorry he felt the need to be validated by telling everyone how he likes to have sex.