Morning Thoughts

 Good Monday to you! And here it is, the last day of 2018. The years certainly seem to go faster as I get older. Last night, I was at the sweetest wedding. The bride and groom truly spoke from their hearts to each other when they said their vows they had written and it was beautiful. You could see on their faces that they were listening intently to every word from each other. They were completely tuned in to their new partner.  The Bible tells us that we are the bride, but do we hang on every word from Him like a bride? Do we listen like that for God’s voice? Do you remember the last time God spoke to you? Were you listening intently and tuned into Him? We know that God is speaking and when we can’t hear Him, it’s our ears and not His voice that has a problem. we need to simply say, like Samuel, “Speak Lord for your servant is listening.” Listening makes all the difference. When you’re serious about hearing God, pray before you read from His word. Ask Him to direct you and to...

It’s the Weekend after Christmas and when I gave gifts this past week, I heard lots of thank you’s. It’s easy to be thankful when someone cares about you and buys things for you. But what about when someone doesn’t do something nice for you? What about when they are rude or just mean to you? Did everything go perfectly for you this week? Of course not, but were you thankful even though things happened that shouldn’t have? Are you thankful when bad things happen? When things go from bad to worse? When your critics are watching every move to catch you when you slip up? Amazingly enough, Jesus was. Before He went to the cross, Jesus took the cup that represented His blood that would be poured out for many and He gave thanks. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,...And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name  which i...

Happy Friday! Yesterday, I was back at Silver Dollar City with a different group of kids! And once again, I was in awe of the amazing light display that takes over that place at Christmas. This year there were 6.5 million lights! And after dark, you don’t need any big streetlights, because there are so very many of the little lights.  Looking at all of it, I just thought about us, as Christians. Do we light up our little spot and work with others to light up an even bigger spot or do we tend to tuck ourselves in behind something so that we don’t shine too brightly and get too much attention standing for Christ?  ““You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5:14-16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ Let your light so shine...I lo...

Good Thursday. Is your holiday season going well? Have you been keeping your family traditions? When my kids assemble for holidays, they like to work puzzles. So after dinner, the table is cleared and the selected puzzle comes out. The edge pieces are the first pulled out and then each piece is sorted by color. It’s a fine art of puzzle working. While they are working with the pieces, you couldn’t begin to say what the picture might be, but when the puzzle is completed, the picture is complete.  How much is that like our lives? When we first start out, it is impossible to tell what our journey will look like, but as we go along and more pieces are added to our picture, you start to see a pattern appear in different areas. When we finally leave this life, our picture is complete and it’s clear what our lives were. Was it a life lived for oneself? A life lived in service to family and friends? A life lived to store up treasure? A life dedicated to a profession? Or a life lived subjec...

Good Wednesday and I hope you had a great Christmas with family and friends. My group came back together for one last holiday hop-rah.  I’ve been listening to Christmas music for the last few weeks and the song that kept playing in my head after I went to bed was “I bring an offering of worship to my King. No one on earth deserves the praises that we sing. Lord I bring an offering to you.” And that’s my prayer—that we can all bring that offering of praise to the King throughout this next year in all we do. Because truly, who does deserve our praise if not the one who destroyed death for us? “but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.” ‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭1:10‬ ‭NIV‬‬ Through His appearing, life and immortality are ours simply by asking. What more could He do? He is Jehovah-Sabaoth (the Lord Almighty) who is the sovereign God over all the powers of the universe. ...

Merry Christmas. My wish for you is that today is more than just nostalgia and gift giving. I hope you love Christmas because it’s the day we can really celebrate Jesus coming to us at the perfect time. God became man to pay the sin debt for us all. And yet He was Lord at the moment of his birth.  “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “ Abba, Father.”” Galatians‬ ‭4:4-6‬ ‭NIV‬‬ Long the world laid in sin and error pining until He appeared and our souls felt their worth. A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices, for yonder, a new and glorious morning breaks. Jesus came to display the glory of the Father. “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father”. He came to tell and to show us how much God loves us. When He came as a man, God himself was speaking t...

Happy Christmas Eve. We had our Christmas yesterday and let me tell you, I ate too much! We ate all day and 1/2 the night. We opened gifts and played the gift game with the Saran Wrap ball. And since we have little boys, there were nerf bullets flying through the air all day and they were everywhere!  But one of my gifts was a set of go-cups that you can’t hardly knock over. They are pretty amazing—you have to pick it straight up when you want it. I looked at that cup as everyone kept hitting it and thought that cup refuses to budge. 23 should be so strong. “I shall not be moved!”  “I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel; My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the LORD always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will rest in hope...You will show me the path ok f life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” ‭‭Psal...