Sunday, July 26, 2009

fun CO pics!

Spent some time in CO recently. Loved it. It was great to spend some quality time with some quality friends!

It's a Wonderful Life

I'm thinking of watching "It's a Wonderful Life" today. Yeah, I know, Christmas in July. But that's ok- I love that it's a story about life & what it's really all about.
If you haven’t figured it out yet— life is about relationships and how you treat others.

Your relationship with the grocery clerk.
Do you smile at them & ask how they are doing?

Your relationship with the video store girl.
Do you take time out & stop to hear her latest story?

Your relationship with your waiter.
Do you treat him with the respect and tip well?

Your relationship with you family.
Do you call them just to say “I love you”?

Your relationship with your co-workers.
Do you strive to do your best work and get along even when you don’t feel like it? Even if they treat you awful?

Your relationship with friends.
Are you someone they can count on and trust?

Your relationship with God.
Do you take time out to talk to Him & then stop to let Him talk back to you? Do you listen?

Notice that I didn’t list these in any particular order. I did that on purpose. I hope that you are treating the waiter just the same as you would your friends.
But I have to say- I would hope that your relationship with God doesn’t rank last on your list.

Luke 6:27-49 would be a good excerpt for you to read today. If you don’t have time, let me list a handful of the verses for you:
30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back.
31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.

37 Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.
38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap.
For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.

43 No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.
44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers.
45 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

Sunday, July 05, 2009

nothing left but God

Hope everyone had a happy & safe 4th of July!
I have this little devotional book I read every once in awhile. This morning I read something that I felt like sharing on my blog. So here it is:

"Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the LORD, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. The people of Judah came together to seek help from the LORD; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him.
Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the LORD in the front of the new courtyard and said:

"O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you. O our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? They have lived in it and have built in it a sanctuary for your Name, saying, 'If calamity comes upon us, whether the sword of judgment, or plague or famine, we will stand in your presence before this temple that bears your Name and will cry out to you in our distress, and you will hear us and save us.'

"But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them. See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you."

All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the LORD. Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite and descendant of Asaph, as he stood in the assembly.

He said: "Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the LORD says to you: 'Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God's. Tomorrow march down against them. They will be climbing up by the Pass of Ziz, and you will find them at the end of the gorge in the Desert of Jeruel. You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Go out to face them tomorrow, and the LORD will be with you.' " 2 Chronicles 20:3-17

In today's Bible reading, the people of Judah were in trouble. They admitted their lack of power and wisdome to conquer their foes. All they had left was God! But King Jehoshaphat and the people saw this as reason for hope, not despair. "Our eyes are upon You," they declared to God. And their hope was not disaapointed as He fulfilled His promise: "The battle is not yours, but God's."
Are you in a position where all self-sufficiency is gone? As you turn your eyes on the Lord and put your hope in Him, you have God's reassuring promise that you need nothing more.
{excerpt from April 2009 Daily Bread publication}