Morning Thoughts

It’s the Weekend!   One of my good friends is going through a rough time. People she has to deal with on a daily basis are not of God and are making her life very difficult. People can certainly make life rough. People did that to Jesus and to every disciple, to Stephen, to John the Baptist, and to those listed in Hebrews 11 as the many martyrs of the faith. But this one thing we have is the promise of God that no matter how hard pressed we are, we do not have to be broken.  “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” ‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭4:7-9‬ ‭NIV‬‬ We are just a spiritual being on earth living in a “jar of clay,” a temporary tent for our soul, but we possess an all encompassing power directly from the Throne of God. They can knock us down, but Praise Jesus, they can’t keep u

It’s the Weekend!   One of my good friends is going through a rough time. People she has to deal with on a daily basis are not of God and are making her life very difficult. People can certainly make life rough. People did that to Jesus and to every disciple, to Stephen, to John the Baptist, and to those listed in Hebrews 11 as the many martyrs of the faith. But this one thing we have is the promise of God that no matter how hard pressed we are, we do not have to be broken.  “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” ‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭4:7-9‬ ‭NIV‬‬ We are just a spiritual being on earth living in a “jar of clay,” a temporary tent for our soul, but we possess an all encompassing power directly from the Throne of God. They can knock us down, but Praise Jesus, they can’t keep u

Happy Friday. Yesterday was my sister’s birthday and after spending three days with her, I really missed her! As big sisters often do, she called today to explain more things to me. After I hung up i laughed out loud thinking back to our younger days when she would give me “counseling” telling me just what I should do. In the days of Jesus and Peter and Paul, those who gave big lectures often times were on the “judgement seat” or in the Greek on the “bema”. It’s referred to numerous times in Classical Greek literature as well as three separate “bemas” are spoken of in the New Testament.  The Corinthian “bema” where Paul was tried (Acts 18) has been excavated. It is a large stone structure about 7.5 feet above the pavement and originally covered with carved marble. Standing before someone who was atop that was probably nothing like standing in front of your sister. Can you get a feel for how straight up you’re looking at the person who is speaking down to you? Even if the speaker was o

Happy Thursday. Do you love good smells? I adore Bath and Body Works even though in my brain I know it is too expensive and I’m just paying for the smell, but I love the smell! And my emotional self loves everything in the store from the car smell to the room smell to the soap smell to the lotion smell! I have the plug ins all over my house and the clip on in my car—I’m ridiculous. But smell is a long lasting memory. When we close our eyes and remember, we can smell grandma’s cookies before we can taste or see them, right? I remember the smell of my grandpa’s pipe even though I don’t remember much else about him.  When the Apostle Paul was writing his second letter to the Corinthians, he spoke of the aroma, the smell, of a Christian. He refers to us as being in the Christ’s procession and how Jesus uses us to spread the knowledge—the aroma—of Him. He says that to those who know Christ, the aroma is that of a sweet perfume but to those who do not, it smells like death.  “But thanks be

Happy Wednesday. My sister and I spent yesterday doing a little business and quite a bit of shopping. I love spending time with her. We never seem to get enough sister-time and this Thursday is her birthday—a reminder of how quickly time slips through our fingers.  One of the things she needed to get yesterday was a cover and a protector for her new phone. It seems that she is allergic to the cobalt and the nickel in her phone and she developed an awful rash on her ear and the side of her face from it. (I told her to get an iPhone but she wouldn’t listen!) We went to a place in the mall so the guy would put the protector on and he charged her $30 for both. She was not happy—I think she wanted to turn over that little kiosk. She was sure he had marked his prices up a ridiculous amount.  After Jesus rode in to Jerusalem on the donkey, he went to the temple. He was so upset over the high prices being charged to the people—about 25% over the value—that He did turn over the tables. They had

Happy Monday. I hope you had a good time in worship this weekend and spent some quality time with loved ones and with God’s people. I know when I’m sick or miss church for some reason, I have an ache, like I’m homesick until I get there again.   Our hearts long to worship God—we were created by Him and with our very nature, we have a craving for God. If we try to satisfy that craving with something else, we lose every time. The things of this world, the lusts that we so quickly grab for when we are hungry for God, never satisfy and just leave us hungrier than we were before. There is no created thing that can fill the space in our heart like only our God can.  ““Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that y

Happy Tuesday!  Yesterday when my sister and I were doing business for our mom, we took a little detour and stopped in at one of our favorite little stores. There were so many cute Easter decorations we oo-ed and aah-ed over that it made me realize that we have entered into the season of the Passover.  It was the beginning of the Passover when the crowds had begun to gather in Jerusalem and Jesus entered Jerusalem on the donkey. The Passover represents God delivering His people from slavery to new life and a sacrifice was needed. History tells us that it was usual for around 250,000 lambs to be slaughtered during Passover in Jerusalem. But on this special day, the prefect Lamb, the Deliverer, entered the city.   ““Tell the people of Jerusalem, ‘Look, your King is coming to you. He is humble, riding on a donkey— riding on a donkey’s colt.’...Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Jesus was in

It’s the weekend and I woke up super early this morning with a massive migraine (spring and it’s weather fronts is not my friend) so I’m exceedingly late with my thoughts this day. However, even on days like today is it important to choose, as we should do every day, who we will serve this day, and to remember why we serve Him.  “But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”” ‭‭Joshua‬ ‭24:15‬ ‭NLT‬‬ “The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease.” ‭‭Lamentations‬ ‭3:22‬ ‭NLT‬‬ I think it’s important to quote scripture like this to ourselves first thing every day. Write it on the bathroom mirror or in your phone so you see it before you look at your calendar. Let the Word of God set the tone for the day and not your agenda. Let it help you see trut

Happy Friday! Has this been a good week for you? We have seen the sun most of the week here in southwest Missouri so regardless of anything else, we are a happy people. It seems like we had an extra long spell of darkness and dreary-ness with miserable cold weather which makes us all super appreciative to see sunny days.  I think that is how it is in our lives as well. Those of us who have been through the darkness—a stretch of it where we could depend on no one to help us but our Father God—truly appreciate it when He leads us out into the sunshine again.  “Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭23:4‬ ‭NLT‬‬ "He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds." Psalms 147:3 “...Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭30:5‬ ‭NLT‬‬ And joy does come in the morning. Sometimes in baby giggles, sometimes in a 12-year old’s

Happy Thursday. I can’t believe how fast this month is flying by. (I sound like my mother talking about time moving faster as you get older!) But so many things really do seem to change faster than I can keep up with and then, there are a few that seem to just stay the same. It’s that way with me, too. I am able to make some changes in myself rather easily—some physical changes happen whether I want them or not, like bad eyes, wrinkles, sore feet. However, I try to make small improvements in my habits and a few things do get a little better but there are some things, no matter how hard I try, i just can’t fix.  My Splenda packets from my first-thing-in-the-morning tea. I have no earthly idea why, but they never make it to the trash can. They are on the counter waiting on me when I go back in the kitchen 3 or 12 hours later. There they sit! It irritates me to no end. It used to irritate Bob Hudson and he’d say “You are literally one foot from the trash can.” (No, this is not a new pheno

Happy Tuesday! I’m so happy to see the sun but after only a couple of days of warm weather here, I’m sneezing like a crazy woman! I did decide though that it was almost time to let the toes out to see the sun and I thought “Surely I can save a couple of dollars and paint my own toes!” Every year or so I try this one time and then I remember why I don’t do this myself—I’m terrible at it! A friend said “How big of a paint brush did you use?” (Ha-ha, very funny.) Some people (like me) are just not good with the details of life—Toenails being one of those details.  As I tried to clip and file and rub off rough spots, I once again realized how difficult it is to mess with feet. To take care of someone else’s feet is a humbling experience. For obvious reasons, I’ve not given too many pedicures, but I have given a few. There is a special feeling of denying yourself, forgetting about you, and concentrating on another person, when you take on someone’s foot care.  The church of my childhood and

Happy Monday! It’s the start of a new week and God has great things in store for you. What ever you do, stand and be ready to take them on—don’t go hide in the supply closet like the first king of Israel. I was reading about that yesterday. I had forgotten what a coward Saul was when he was first anointed as the King. But when I read the story this time with fresh eyes, instead of laughing at Saul, I wondered how many times over the years have I tried to hide behind the extra Tide?  In I Samuel when the people were clamoring for a king, God found them one. Then, when he figured out what God was asking of him he was so scared, he ran and hid.  “So they inquired further of the Lord, “Has the man come here yet?” And the Lord said, “Yes, he has hidden himself among the supplies.” They ran and brought him out, and as he stood among the people he was a head taller than any of the others. Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the man the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among al

Happy Monday! It’s the start of a new week and God has great things in store for you. What ever you do, stand and be ready to take them on—don’t go hide in the supply closet like the first king of Israel. I was reading about that yesterday. I had forgotten what a coward Saul was when he was first anointed as the King. But when I read the story this time with fresh eyes, instead of laughing at Saul, I wondered how many times over the years have I tried to hide behind the extra Tide?  In I Samuel when the people were clamoring for a king, God found them one. Then, when he figured out what God was asking of him he was so scared, he ran and hid.  “So they inquired further of the Lord, “Has the man come here yet?” And the Lord said, “Yes, he has hidden himself among the supplies.” They ran and brought him out, and as he stood among the people he was a head taller than any of the others. Samuel said to all the people, “Do you see the man the Lord has chosen? There is no one like him among al

It’s the weekend! I hope your week has gone well and has been a productive one. Have you loved people more this week than last like Jesus told us to do? Remember it’s about building those relationships.  When the religious leaders were trying hard to trick Jesus, one man who seemed to think the Teacher had understanding, asked him of all the laws, what was the most important one.  (Remember, at that time, besides the 10 Moses had brought down from Mt Sinai, the Jews in all their wisdom had added another 603 more! Now I ask you, who can even remember 613 laws, much less keep them all?) But our brilliant Jesus Messiah answered so beautifully, beginning with the Shema, the verse that every Jewish child could recite. It would be as if He recited John 3:16 today.  ““The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The sec

Happy Friday! I hope you’ve had a good week. I have and I’m almost recovered from the dreaded flu — i feel really good until about mid afternoon when I hit the wall. I was thinking yesterday how easy it is when you get tired and exhausted to just to lose our resolve and give up our determination and eat what ever is in front of us or just ignore the mess or forget anything productive we’d planned to do. And the frightening thing is, at that point, we are a perfect target for the enemy.  “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith. Remember that your family of believers all over the world is going through the same kind of suffering you are. In his kindness God called you to share in his eternal glory by means of Christ Jesus. So after you have suffered a little while, he will restore, support, and strengthen you, and he will place you on a firm foundation.

Happy Thursday. Do you ever wonder who is really In control?  Yesterday, at work the UPS man came with his delivery and asked for a signature. I, thinking I'm always in charge, picked up the pen just In time to hear Adam "gently" yell "No Pam, you can't sign that!" Evidently, I didn't have the authority. But who is In control? In the store it's Adam--to a point. In my house's it's me--to a point. But ultimate control?  We say we believe it's God, but do we practice it?  One of the people I think of putting all their eggs in one basket, really believing God was in full control, Is Gideon who knew for a fact that God controlled every facet of everything including the dew. So when he wasn’t sure about what God would have him to do, he asked him to show him a sign though the dew on the fleece. Then, just the opposite sign just to be sure! “Then Gideon said to God, “If you are truly going to use me to rescue Israel as you promised, prove it to

Happy Wednesday to you. Yesterday, my sweet daughter-in-law sent me an excerpt from her morning Bible study by Kelly Minter. It had touched her and I thought it was so good that I wanted to share it with you. It is based on I John 4,, where John is explaining God’s perfect love and how when we experience it, it changes everything.  “...God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.” ‭‭1 John‬ ‭4:16-19‬ ‭NLT‬‬ “We fear we haven’t done enough, which we haven’t. We fear we’re not good enough, which we’re not. We fear we have sinned recklessly, which we have. We

Happy Tuesday! I hope you’re having a good start to your week. My Monday started off with a bang and then about 11:30, I was finished! Just done for—out of gas, so to speak! I had such high hopes when I woke up with a new lease on life, all energetic, but it just didn’t last long. I just kept thinking “Why? Why can’t I be fully well and have all my energy back?”  As you probably are sick of hearing, one of my favorite Bible heros is Elijah, a fiesty man of God who not only prays fire down from heaven to consume the wet sacrifice, but it licks up all the extra water as well. He then oversees the killing of 450 prophets of Baal, then, climbs back up Mt Carmel to pray down rain. As the heavy rainstorm began, Elijah tucked up his robe and out ran the horses down the mountain.  BUT...the very next day when he heard the Jezabel wanted him dead, he was afraid and took off into the desert. He sat under a broom tree and he prayed for God to let him die. Now, wouldn’t you expect The brave Elijah

Happy Monday! Well, one week after the doctor told me I had a sinus infection, he told me that I had the flu, and yes, I’d had my flu shot this year. Mercy this had been the winter for being sick! But through all the trials and storms of illness, amazingly enough, the Lord of peace has given peace at all times.  “Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.” ‭‭2 Thessalonians‬ ‭3:16‬ ‭NIV You know, when we don’t feel well, we try to describe what we are feeling to others and if they’ve had something similar, they can sympathize with us—they understand how it’s effecting us and that somehow helps. But when we read Psalms 31, we understand that no one understands or cares like the Lord.   “I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of my soul.” (Psalm 31:7)  The Hebrew word translated rejoice here means, literally, “to spin around.” And—How great is thi

i got very sick very quickly yesterday afternoon. I’m going to the doctor this morning but I can’t really put together a good thought so I decided I’d pull out the one from last year on this exact date—my friend Leanne had surgery!  Good (Thursday) to you. So far has you week gone well? Yesterday, my good friend LeAnn had a fairly serious surgery that was completed last night about 9:00 pm. She was diagnosed about 3 weeks ago with “the” scary word and has had to carry that burden. Her surgery went well and she has a good prognosis but she will have to wait on biopsy results to breathe well.  All the way driving to Tulsa to be at the hospital, I kept thinking of Revelation 1:8 “...I am the God who is, the God who was, and the God who is to come.” Because He says “the God who is” first, I think we can know that the right now is the most important time for Him and for us—this very minute that we are existing in. So for my friend, her scariest time, the time her fears in the very moments r

Happy Wednesday. We have been doing inventory at the store—making sure every item’s SKU number matches what is listed in the computer and that everything is accounted for. It’s a tedious item by item process but really necessary.  Last night I was reading in Revelations 3, and it dawned on me that the way I had always thought of the passage of Jesus knocking on the doors of hearts may not be right. I dug out some tried and true commentaries and applied what I’ve always been taught when you’re trying to interpret scripture. 1. Does it make sense in light of its context? 2. Does it make sense in light of the rest of scripture?  “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me.” ‭‭Revelation‬ ‭3:20‬ ‭NIV‬‬ Contextually, this verse is talking about the church at Laodiacea who has become an apostate church. And in light of other passages, if we look at Ephesians 2:1-9, we see that salvation is

Happy Tuesday to you! I hope your week is off to a good start. It was so cold here yesterday! Bitter cold. But the Crowder Circle girls braved the frigid air for our monthly meeting. We started with just a couple of us and our group grows each month. We love each other and we love getting together. We won’t leave without setting out next meeting date. You could say we are passionate about it.  When Jesus was getting His disciples ready to spread the gospel to the world, He needed to make sure their faith was something they were in to live, not just speak. Their faith needed to be a passionate commitment to action. Jesus honored people who weren’t satisfied to simply knowing the truth, He honored people who passionately, persistently pursued it and lived it. His true disciples who wanted to be just like Him certainly had that passion.  Jesus brought his disciples to one of the most evil places Caesarea Philippi where it was nicknamed the Gates of Hell because of the worship of the god

Happy Monday. I hope you had a good weekend and if you didn’t get to go to church, you were able to at least listen to a sermon. That’s what we had to do. But the great thing about Jesus is that He can be right there in the room with us even when we are watching a podcast that was recorded a few days earlier, right? It doesn’t matter where we are.  I’ve been trying to change my walking routine from one mile to two miles. It doesn’t sound like much but after that first mile it’s easy to just tell myself “One mile is good, do two tomorrow.” And if I don’t have my mind fixed on doing the two miles, I’m likely to stop and eat Chick-fil-A with the waffle fries instead of walking! It’s all about self control of my mind and making sure to have my ear buds sufficiently charged up. If I’m not listening to the right music or better yet a podcast that builds up my mind, I’m libel to fall away and not finish my goal. And even if I do finish, not finish with a good time.  I’ve been studying Peter r

It’s the weekend and I hope you are able to have a great time in fellowship and corporate worship at church. Yesterday I was talking to a friend about something and I said “Well, they say...” and the response was “Who says?” And of course I had no idea. But it made me start thinking about where we get our thoughts and ideas. Most of what we think is a collection of what we have heard from teachers, parents, grandparents, friends, TV or things we’ve read. We have been taught in some way or another. We sift through and sort though and decide what we want to keep and that becomes our body of knowledge. Most of us have very little that could be considered original thought.  Jesus is referred to as a teacher in 18 different verses. Many of them, are with the Pharisees and Sadducees, and Herodians, so they probably were using “teacher” as a sarcastic title rather than one of respect, but even those people understood Jesus was a teacher. And today, those who don’t believe Jesus was the sin o

Happy Friday. We are supposed to have a bitter weekend to usher in March here. I hope the weekend holds better weather for you but if not, stay in, build a fire and make a big pot of chili (once again!).  When Georgia and Oscar went to Israel, she told me that when she saw Mt Carmel, she could have sat and looked at it for hours thinking abut the prophet Elijah running up and down and up and down it, praying down fire to consume the water soaked wood, making fools of the prophets of Baal. I think I know exactly what she meant. One of my very favorite Bible passages is when the prophet Elijah out runs the chariots down Mt Carmel for about 20 miles! He was certainly a Rabbi of great passion.  When the Jews thought Jesus might be Elijah, that really wasn’t such a bad thing. They held him in great esteem as a man of intense passion, a man who wouldn’t let anything get in his way of serving God, a man of great faith and zeal. Jesus must have been such a man with a great devotion to the Lord