Morning Thoughts

Good Monday to you. I was able to get to my house last night after being away for so long. In my soft bed, I thought about Paul, the consummate traveler. How often did he have a good bed? The Apostle traveled about 10,000 miles altogether. No one really knows if that was only on foot or if he rode animals some of the way. Nonetheless, he was quite a traveler!  When I was in Athens, I just kept thinking of the first time Paul got there. I was on a bus with a group. He was alone. For me, there was the mighty Parthenon on the hill, lit for everyone to see. For Paul, there was the Parthenon (completed 300 years before), with the statues of Athena, on the Acropolis. For me, the streets were crowded and noisy. For Paul, the streets were crowded and noisy—and he had no bus or lunch reservations. So how did he do it? How did he break into that highly successful, metropolitan city and make a difference? Today, Athens (with the rest of Greece) reports as 90-95% Christian (Greek Orthodox). Bu...

It’s Sunday (very early) and I’m sitting here with my mama, watching her take her last breaths. I’m so blessed to be able to spend these last few hours with her and to remember the of clips of our lives. I have thought of little else since Thursday, when I got the news she was in rapid decline—I was a half a world away—and I have been running on high since then. But just now, there is a peacefulness here.  As you may remember, I just finished a tour covering most of the stops of the second missionary journey of the Apostle Paul. My mama, like the apostle, longs for heaven. Her spirit can say with assurance the very same words Paul sent to his student Timothy more than 2,000 years ago.  “I am already being poured out like a drink offering. The time has come for me to leave. I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith. Now there is a crown waiting for me. It is given to those who are right with God. The Lord, who judges fairly, will give it to m...

It’s Monday and I’m on my way to the airport to board a plane for Greece. I am going to be gracing the steps of Paul when he took his second missionary journey. I will try to send a couple of notes to you and I’ll do my best to keep pictures posted to Facebook.  I seem to have had one of those rough mental times here lately but I have found a verse that helps me to rally.  “The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭32:8‬ ‭NLT And when we ‬‬can grab on to that, completely believe it, and trust Him to lead us, we will know that this place and this time are the very best for us. The people around us at this moment are the ones He has placed in our lives for a purpose. Nothing is by chance nor randomness. It’s all part of His grand design.  Just as Paul told the Ephesians  “Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for he chose us in advance, and...

Happy Friday to you! Yesterday while the baby was sleeping, Tracy and I sat down for 30 minutes and flipped on the TV. “Marrying the Millions” a show about a lower middle class person dating a millionaire was on. One 60-year old real estate tycoon in Dallas was dating a 21-year old girl. Of course his friends were cheering for him but everything about it was wrong. I told Tracy he could easily be her grandpa. But how many things do we see things that are wrong we make excuses for? Situations that aren’t right but it could be worse? Or movies we watch because the plot was so good? Or friends we have that live in blatant sin but they are such good people?  In this 5th chapter of I Corinthians Paul must deal with the church as a whole because it has tolerated and even celebrated blatant sin. “It’s been widely reported that there is gross sexual immorality among you—the kind of immorality that’s so revolting it’s not even tolerated by the social norms of unbelievers. Are you proud of t...

It’s Thursday. And for the life of me I can’t believe how fast time is flying by. This forth chapter is centered around faithfulness and trustworthiness. Something we all like to believe we are yet I know at times I fall woefully short. My ADD mind is my biggest enemy and when I try to concentrate on the things of God, it scampers hither and yon. When I’m trying to remember all the things I need to pray about, it’s everywhere. That’s why, if you ask me to pray about something, I do my very best to pray right then. I fear, l have to put that old man (my mind) down every morning! This proving faithful is a hard task.  “Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful. ‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭4:2 The only person to whom Paul worries about being proven faithful is the Lord God. To Him and Him alone does Paul answer.  Paul goes on to tell these believers that maybe they are stocking up their riches in the wrong kingdom: they already have all they could want a...

Happy Wednesday to you! Last week when I was with my youngest grandson who is 11-months old, I laughed at how much he is an eating machine. Put a piece of just about anything in front of him and he will try his best to eat it. He moved from milk to solid food pretty quickly somewhere around 6-7 months and loves just about everything from chicken to avocados to blueberries.  Why does Paul tell the Corinthians that he can’t “feed” them solid food, even when it “tastes” much better and has so much more to offer them (and us)? How often do you think we are hungry for the meat of the Word or are we simply content with just a little taste of milk and never really dig deeper? Are we truly living by the Spirit?  “Brothers and sisters, I could not address you as people who live by the Spirit but as people who are still worldly—mere infants in Christ. I gave you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready for it. Indeed, you are still not ready.” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭3:1-2‬ ‭NIV Eviden...

Happy Tuesday to you. Yesterday was grandparents day for me with Ozzie. The precious card he had made for me said I was “sweet, caring, happy, smart, loving, nice, funny and trustworthy.” He told me “I have never heard you lie Nina!” (My sister said she had, but that doesn’t count!) It does amaze me in this day of so much technology how improved the vocabularies of my grandchildren have become. The technology used even at schools bombards them with so much so fast that they either grab and absorb it all or they zone out.  We live in an age of complete information overload. With the press of a button we can access more data than the world has ever had before. But are we wiser? Or are we more confused with possibilities, more opinionated with facts, and more disconnected from each other, from our Creator, and from nature? To be wiser would be to act on understanding and this increased awareness of who we are, why we are here, and what we should be doing, in light of creation and ete...

It’s Monday and let me tell you I had the greatest adventure weekend—I was surprised with a trip to OU’s football game! We had so much fun. Not only did I have such a great time, but I was blown away by the complete selfless act. It’s not that the girls don’t like a little football, but that’s certainly not how they would have chosen to spend their weekend nor where they would have wanted to go for a road trip. I think they spent more time watching me enjoy the game than anything else. It was a perfect example of putting someone else first.  It was exactly what the Apostle did in Corinth when he established the church there. He made sure those believers were taken care of and that they had the tools they needed to survive on their own. He could have just mandated a list of laws, but he wanted them to experience Jesus and the freedom found in Him for themselves—much more difficult. He didn’t want them to be weighed down under the law once again.  In 1 Corinthians, Paul works to...

It’s the weekend and I’m about to embark on the great birthday adventure of 2019. Georgia and Casey have a “Top Secret” get-away planned for me and I have absolutely no clues. At 9:00 this morning, I will he told what to pack. The boys have only said “make sure you wash between your toes” and “take a helmet”. I’m not sure, but I think they were being silly. I’m not even sure those goofy boys know what’s going on. But I’ll keep you posted.  Many times in his journey, Paul didn’t really know what was facing him either, but here in Acts 21 wasn’t one of them. When he headed back to Jerusalem, Paul had been warned over and over and all of his friends has pleaded with him to not go.  “Coming over to us, he took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jewish leaders in Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’ ” When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go...

Good Friday Morning to you. Today is a day I’d like to call my mom and tell her thanks for all the things she has done for me, but mom doesn’t remember me, nor does she remember her life. She can’t speak and she is slowly forgetting how to walk. The last time I was with her, she seemed to be forgetting how to swallow. It’s very sad, but she is 92 and eventually all of our bodies simply wear out and give up.  Sometimes we all feel like giving up. We make promises to do better, we pray more or try harder in hopes of finding our way out of the mess. When even our best efforts don’t seem to work, God reminds us of the truth. He loves us and will never abandon us. This is the message of Jesus: while we were still sinners, he came to save us. Nothing we do will ever separate us from the love of God. Paul battled through tears, overwhelming opposition, loneliness and weariness, but he never gave up on his calling to follow Jesus. He did not attempt to do it alone. Throughout his ministry,...

Happy Thursday to you. I woke up in the middle of the night with a killer headache. I hate it when I get those. I take a shot one a month and I still get 3 or 4. My friend Linda has lived with them for years and can find nothing to help hers. It boggles the mind to think about the kinds of issues most of us live with in this life. It does make us realize that this world isn’t our home and it surely isn’t perfect. The apostle knew that better than most even when things were going well for him.  The church was growing at an unprecedented rate. Paul obviously couldn’t be everywhere at once so God was even blessing things Paul had touched! Amazing? Yes, incredible. But to know how quickly all this was about to come to an end is incredible as well. He is about to be persecuted, beaten, shipwrecked and murdered. It isn’t all a wonderfully blessed life for Paul, but this two years, when the church needs him desperately, it’s not bad.  . ““When Paul placed his hands on them, the Holy ...

Happy Tuesday! It’s back to the doctor today for me. I just can’t get on top of whatever it is that has a hold of me. I wish I could be more like Paul—Hardships certainly never seem to slow the apostle down. I try to put myself in his mindset and his attitude that I’m sure was partially positive thinking but obviously much more. What helps us to move forward even when our bodies fail us and we are discouraged?  When Paul first got to Corinth, he had wonderful friends to stay with, work to do, needs met, and God had assured him in a vision to keep speaking because he would be kept safe. I’m sure he wanted to just stay there forever with that church but alas, after about a year and a half, it was time again to more on. Listening to God’s guidance, he sailed to Ephesus. And of course, the believers there also begged him to stay, but he left Ephesus setting sail for Caesarea.  “When they asked him to spend more time with them, he declined. But as he left, he promised, “I will come...

Its Wednesday! And after a shot yesterday, I’m feeling like I may be on the mend—praise the Lord. While we are here in Acts, I didn’t want to overlook in chapter 18 the first introduction to Apollos. We don’t have any idea how Apollos came to know anything about Jesus, but he is described as an evangelist, apologist, church leader, and friend of the apostle Paul. Apollos was a Jew from Alexandria, Egypt, characterized as “eloquent,” “mighty in the Scriptures,” “fervent in the spirit” and “instructed in the way of the Lord” (Acts 18:24). In A.D. 54, he traveled to Ephesus, where he taught boldly in the synagogue.  However, at that time, Apollos’ understanding of the gospel was incomplete, since he was “acquainted only with the baptism of John” (Acts 18:25). This probably means that Apollos preached repentance and faith in the Messiah—he maybe even believed that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah—but he didn’t understand the full magnitude of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Aquila and ...

Happy Monday! Well, even though I still have a bit of this allergy mess hanging on, I’m feeling great this morning after the first win by my team last night. I love college football and I’m so excited it’s back. I do have to be careful though—sometimes I can like it too much!  When Paul was in Athens, waiting on Silas and Timothy, he couldn’t help but be bothered by the idols all over the city. He tried to reason with anyone who would listen to him—in the synagogue or in the market—anywhere he was. A group of scholars began to who were members of a pagan philosophy believing that pleasure was the greatest good began to debate with him. They took him to one of their meetings and asked him to explain what teachings he was speaking about. (They were always curious of the latest ideas and trends).  “Then they took him and brought him to a meeting of the Areopagus, where they said to him, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting? You are bringing some strange ...