Morning Thoughts

Happy New Years Eve. Have you got big plans for tonight? Have you written out you resolutions? Can you even believe it’s almost 2020? It still sounds like science fiction to me. And yet, time just keeps marching on, doesn’t it? It is one of those curious facts of life that as you get older, time seems to speed up.  And sometimes we get so caught up in our big, new plans for the coming year we forget all about God would have in His plans for us.  “Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil.” ‭‭James‬ ‭4:13-16‬ ‭NLT‬‬ But the great news is God’s plans for us far exceed any...

Happy Monday! The countdown is on for 2020. As I left church yesterday I heard someone say “That was the last church service of the decade!” And so here we are—at the end of a decade. When you think back over the last ten years, how has it been? Ups and downs? Good times and bad? I saw a movie the other day that had a good line in it. A dying mom told her 18-year old son that life would sometimes knock him down to his knees. But he needed to remember that if he could just take a minute, breath, get back up and take a couple of steps, it would get better.  We have been talking for a month about the four attributes of Christ: Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. But even though we may be saved, there are times we just don’t feel one or all of those. We may not feel like we are worthy or we may just feel isolated and alone or maybe life has knocked us to our knees. But regardless, all of us at times have problems feeling the hope, peace, joy and love of Jesus.  “For everything that was wr...

Happy Friday! Have you enjoyed or exchanged all your gifts yet? I do love gifts. I think mostly I love the idea that someone thought of me and picked out something they thought I’d like. I don’t really care if it cost $1 or $100–for me, it’s all about taking a little time to think about me.  Then, I think about how God sees me and how He gifts me and it takes my breath away. Evidently it amazed David as well.  “Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!...When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them? You have made them a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas. Lord, our ...

Happy day after Christmas. I hope you had a wonderful time with friends and fmIly or if you haven’t been able to sync schedules yet, I hope you are able to do so soon. The Hudson’s managed to stretch the holiday out as long as possible. I do believe I can skip eating until February and I should be just fine!  This fall my children lost both of their grandmothers. One was 92 and one 96. They had lived good long lives and finished their course. Then, just after losing the second one we found out we were getting another baby in the family. It’s funny how that circle of life works. People are born and then get old and die and then more people are born. All except for that one baby. He was old when He was born.  ““You are a king, then!” said Pilate. Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.”” ‭‭John‬ ‭18:37‬ ‭NIV‬‬ When Jesus was born, He was born very di...

Merry Christmas Eve and love has come for the world to know and experience. The angels sang the mightiest chorus to the lowest people in society when the God of glory, who is full of mercy sent His Son into this world! Yes, what a sight that must have been! That’s one of those things that when I get to Heaven, I want to see a re-play of, you know? I’ve got a list.  Sometimes I look at my little dog Boomer and think how little he realizes what I do for him. Now Boomer likes me—I’m his person. He wants to be close to me and in the same room and usually on top of me. But he has no clue that I buy his toys or make sure his bed is clean or that I buy the right food so his tummy won’t be upset or that I make sure he has water, and so on. He just assumes it’s all going to be there and be good. He wants extra food and more snacks than I give him, but I know it wouldn’t be good for him.  Are we a little like that with God? No clue what He really does for us? How many times He makes sur...

Good Monday to you and it is the week to celebrate that love has come for the world! This weekend, we had some of the family Christmas and as I looked down the table, I though of the old cliche, “All because two people fell in love…” And when I think of the four kids, and the four spouses and the soon to be 10 grandchildren... we talked quite a bit about the new baby and we all love him or her every bit as much as the ones that were there running around and the one serving in Hawaii who just got a tattoo on his arm. All I can think of is Wow! That’s a bunch of people and a lotta of love going from 2 to 20 in what seems like a short time.  This year, more than ever before, it has resonated with me over and over as I have studied that Christmas is about so much more than the baby in the manger. It is about that great love God had for the entire world coming to earth. Right after Jesus explains to Niccodemus about being born again, John tells us “For God so loved the world that he gav...

Happy Friday. Do you remember as a kid how long it seemed to take for Christmas to come? And now as an adult, it seems to come a little quicker every year! As a child, I remember it seemed like it was the greatest morning ever! And watching childrens’s faces still makes it a pretty great day. The definitely delayed gratification was (and is) always so worth it.  Especially now, in this fast-food world we live in, when we don’t like to wait for anything delayed gratification is almost a foreign concept. The idea of saving to buy a car or for a big purchase. Waiting for something better. It’s hard for us, but if we could wrap our heads around even a bit of what awaits us in heaven, we would live with boundless joy—the ultimate delayed gratification!  There are incredible realities in our everyday walk with Jesus in the here and now, but the joy of heaven to come can give us perspective and purpose when life gets tough.  “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in...