Friday, September 28, 2007

"Don't worry about it."

How often has someone told you that?
How often have YOU said that to someone else?
Do you mean it when you say it, or is it just a way of escaping a conversation?
I have been told it many times.
I have said that to someone else many times.
But I still worry sometimes.
Yes, I am just like you are.
However, I have a few things to share with you that may help.
I have not held a 'steady' job, (something 40/hrs. weekly,) since 1980! Due to either health issues or labor disputes, that's how it's been. Sure, some weeks had 40/hrs or more, but nothing consistent.
The one constant: we never lacked.
When we decided to move to Arkansas in 1990, almost everyone we knew told us we would never find work here! We found plenty of work! Debby got a job within weeks. No one would hire me, however, because I had a back injury two years prior.
Even now, I am in a fast-food restaurant. (The same one that hired me in 1991!) Due to another health issue, I barely work 15 hrs.week. No, I am not making what I did back at the market, but GOD CONTINUES TO PROVIDE!
The one consistency in my life since 1980 has been GOD'S PROVISION!
We have never lacked.
We have been to zero balance and lower in the checkbook on many occasions, but we have never lacked!
All this brings me back to my opening statement: "Don't worry about it."
One of the gentlemen at Promise Keepers hands me a $$ bill almost every Tuesday morning. Some would argue that that is not God, but someone knowing our need and helping with it. I beg to differ. I know it is God moving upon that gentleman's heart! How can the defiant "explain away" the following then:
A man in Florida that I have not seen or heard from in years sends a $$$ check to us with a note saying God told him to send it and he hopes it will help?
A woman on the other side of the country that I only met once, several years ago, for only a few minutes, sends a check for $$ saying God told her we needed it!
Don't worry about it.
Sure, it's easy to say. It is even easier to say it to someone else! It is altogether different to live it!
There are some of you with "steady, gainful employment" who may not have a clue what I am talking about. God bless you! You may be in a challenge that I may not even understand. We all have our battles. Don't worry about it.
Is it that I "don't worry about it," or is it Who I turn the concern over to?
Pray for us as we continue to KNOW that God will provide...in the ways HE chooses.
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Wednesday, September 26, 2007

She's good enough for me!

Greetings!
After a meeting once, my wife and I were mingling and there was a group of women gathered. They were in a circle talking about their jobs. Here is the dialogue as Debby walked by:

"What do you do?" they asked.
"I'm a mother and housewife," Debby said.
"Oh, that's nice," and they turned back into their circle of each other and continued talking like she was second-class.
I chose to work as much as possible when we got married so that she would not have to. That worked until I got hurt and we moved back here to Arkansas, where she took over the bread-winning.
I recorded the attitude one day in rebellion:

"Just a housewife and a mother..."
she so softly said;
reluctant so, as if she should
say something else instead?
"I just take care of my two kids
and every daily chore."
'Just a mother and a wife,'
but no one else does more!!
What if she had another job
with monetary pay?
Who'd sing the children off to sleep,
or teach them how to pray?
Who'd play with them throughout the day,
or hold them when they weep?
Or answer all the questions that
their busy minds do keep?

"Just a mother and a wife..."
she's good enough for me!
And brother, there's no other place
that I would have her be!
And I will gladly work TWO jobs,
if so, to keep her there!
For nothing in this world can,
with all she does, compare!!

Don't ever, ever take for granted the value of a stay-at-home mother! If you are one, thank you and please continue to be that mother and wife with all your heart! Even if they don't display it now, your kids will thank you for the rest of their lives!! And if you are a husband or a child that can understand this, please make sure she knows how much she is appreciated!

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Friday, September 21, 2007

Oh, Deer!

"Father God, thank You for simplicity."
So very grateful am I for such in this busy world where we are.

My daughter came home from school this afternoon. To obtain the degree she is after, she must drive one hour each way to her classes. In just about the same spot each morning, there is at least one deer feeding in a field. This means so many different things to different people. For some, it is dinner; to others, it is a nuisance; to still others, it is a trophy. But to someone like me, it is a sight to enjoy and be inspired by. They were so rare where I grew up, and they fascinate me every time I see them...


Creation on the meadow He
created with His hand.
So fragile and so feeble, feeding
on the open land.
The beauty of the morning, oh,
and ever on alert
as oh so many are there that
would seek to foster hurt.
But see the beauty of it only
for a moment long!
Listen very closely to
the morning's living song!
Join ye in the very same
at once to harmonize!
Sing the life abundant, every
sense to realize!


Listen! Can you FEEL it?
Listen! Can you SMELL it?
Listen! Can you SEE it?
Only if you try.


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Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Unlimited

Have you ever prayed “safely?” Asking God for things that will probably happen instead of asking for the impossible? There is no “impossible” with God!
If I am reading His Word correctly, He instructs me to ask for those things that are impossible in my sight!

Why do I put a limit on
The answer to my prayer?
Having certain apprehensions
Before I even share?
I ask for the unlimited,
Then put Him in a box.
The very One Who is the key
That, every door, unlocks.

“I may not even fathom what
You have in mind for me.
‘Your ways are not my own,’ this is
a settled certainty!
And truly I would have my answers
Settled by Your will
Than anything the reasonings
My own could ever fill!
Forgive me for expecting oh
So little of You, Father.
I repent of thinking that,
For some things, You won’t bother.
Anticipating You, it is
Impossible at best,
But “believing” for Your answer,
In this I can rest!”

Whatever you are facing, don’t make the mistakes I make.
God tells us to come to him as little children. When they were little, my own children KNEW that I could do anything they asked for! How much more so my Father Who is in Heaven for such as we?

Ask and believe without reserve!

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Monday, September 17, 2007

What to Be

'BE ALL THAT YOU CAN BE!"
Remember that slogan? One branch of the armed services used it for years. It is a virtuous goal, but there is one greater:

Whatever I can be Lord,
this I want to be today?
But God, I'd rather be all You
can be IN ME, I pray!
Christ in me is greater than
whatever I can do,
as greater, higher, deeper, wider
are the ways of You!

Therefore here am I, use me
wherever You see fit.
Let me not be apprehensive,
hesitant one bit!
If I trust You implicitly,
then take me at my word,
and my eyes will see miracles
in my own life occurred!

I DO trust You implicitly,
for Your supply abounds!
Where is the negative, Your every
positive abounds!
I am not without trial, Lord,
I am without defeat!
I yield mine every way to You
and I am made complete!


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Wednesday, September 12, 2007

How Big?

How big is a miracle? Ask a mother who has just given birth to a 3 lb baby!
How big that obstacle in your way?
How large is that sum of money that you cannot come up with?
How often do I envision God as answering prayer according to the severity of the need?
Forgive me.
I remember when I was 14. Mom was explaining to me the size of the premature baby she had just seen. She said his legs were no longer than the first two joints of her finger. I could not understand that! I did not understand that until I got a job in an E.R.! Dare I say, I still cannot understand?
Nor can I explain how God continues to do miraculous things.
Nor can I explain how God will take care of the needs facing my wife and I right now!

It seems like we are half the size of a finger in the face of some issues right now, but God somehow keeps us above and larger than anything that rears its head!
Some of these issues may not even faze some people. To others, they may appear as giants in the land!
Is that not the way it is with all of life?

I may stress over a little bill that's due, while having no doubt that God knows why my computer crashes! (The one between my ears!)
Every one of us is affected by life in different ways.

Every one of us has a miracle in the works.
How big is yours?


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Tuesday, September 11, 2007

The Days That Are

Quite often, when the sword is drawn, it be a directive to me concerning the immediate situation. So were the following words to me seven years ago. Do they pertain to you?

"For in the days, the days that are,
I clarify 'I AM not far!'
Of times and seasons, be alert;
your deepest fears do not exert!
The day that you are living in,
I see and I show unto men
with a very stern command:
'Fear not! I have each moment planned!'

"These days, these days may only be
a sample of what you will see.
'The labor pains to just begin,'
But I will birth you once again!
My love for you, it will sustain,
no matter how severe the pain.
My love, it shall, your transport be
to where pain's but a memory."

"The days that are.....what days may be.....
compare not to eternity!
Press on, no matter what betide,
until I come receive My Bride.
Spotless, you shall surely be
as we begin eternity!
'....in the twinkling of an eye....'
hold ye fast to this, I cry."


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Monday, September 10, 2007

More Than I

"Who is my neighbor?"
A sarcastic question years ago to which Jesus gave a very practical answer.
The Answer, years ago. Yet people still ask today...

Greater than my origin--
a land I've never known...
greater than my race--a tie
above all to enthrone...
greater than the masses--
my neighbor over there...
yea, so far beyond my need--
a world, a world of care.

I cannot reach the masses if
I pass my brother by.
I can minister to none
if I ignore his cry!
The world is in greater hands--
I must learn to obey
if I am to know advance
upon the Narrow Way.
Too, mine every facet be
there in those very hands.
Thus am I to focus on
that neighbor, then those lands.
A missionary ever, even
only on my street.
"Use me for Thy service, God,
that we would stand complete!"

Amen

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Saturday, September 8, 2007

Brand new morning.
Only on the calendar? Are there any in your life looking for newness in other parts of your life? Who? Which part? Why?
Sure, I can write things that touch people around the world. I may even communicate the very thoughts of God Most High to others. But that very same man that some may hail as a messenger of God, my own household may hail as a jerk!!
God, Himself, warns me to take care of my family first before I minister to others, or I am no better than an infidel! Pray for me, won't you? If these words are touching to you, do me a favor. Pray for me that I be the godly husband and father that I should be here in my home. Thank you.

"Save the China for special occasions..."
But what could be more special than dining with the wife and children whom I love the most?
"Save money for a rainy day..."
But on a rainy day, I can't get out and go after the things I need and want.
"Oh, when the children grow up, we will ____________!"
But in doing such, am I not robbing the children of a once-in-a-lifetime experience?
"My Sunday best"? For who? God knows who I am and what I am. Should I put on something to become something or someone I am not?
"Take your shoes off! You'll ruin the carpet!...
Don't touch that!!...
Get your feet off of the couch!...
Don't set that drink on there!!...
LIVING Room? What kind of living is that?!
What kind of living is this?

"Heavenly Father, what are my priorities?"
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Friday, September 7, 2007

BREAKOUT!

Freedom!!
Do you enjoy it? What does it mean to you?
I am sure that I would get as many different answers to that as there are countries reading this message today!
To get the truest response, we must answer it in the most personal sense...

Who would dare seek revelation
from the greatest height--
putting not a limit on the same?
Who would dare confront a secret
from the darkest night
with 'responsibility' to claim?
Who would dare expose themselves
unto those Spirit rays,
fearing nothing that may come to light?
Dare any be so honest unto
Him Who knows all ways,
never turning, never taking flight?

But say, be any brave enough
to search the depths within,
the catacombs whence hide emotions deep?
Is one among you bold enough
to shun a secret sin,
to overcome 'tradition' some may keep?
Yea, even to 'defy' the past,
its chains to cast aside,
and grasp the miracle of 'here and now;'
The One there in the Greatest Height,
the One Who lives inside,
the same, oh, He awaits to show you how!!

Don't hold back! God already knows everything that you are! Submit to Him and allow Him to make you everything you can be!!
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Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Compromise

Busy…busy…busy. Too busy for Jesus? But if it were not for Him in my life, I would have NOTHING to be busy with! I am without excuse!
Are you?

Oh, the many prejudice
To hinder my advance.
Today, for to avoid The Word
Because of circumstance?
Tell me, what be of more import
Than listening to His voice?
Therefore, to read or not His Word,
There should be not a choice!

Oh, the many prejudice
To hinder fellowship.
I gathered not my family,
His armor to equip.
Late for work…late for school…
Be that of more import?
Unto a lower level will
Success make me resort?

Oh, the many prejudice
To hinder and distract.
To seek ‘the very best,’ what price
On my home to exact?
Rather to avoid all trappings,
Seeking Christ alone
That in my job, my life, my family,
He be surely known!

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Monday, September 3, 2007

"YOU ARE NOBODY!!"

Have you heard this lie before?
Do you recognize it as such?
Do you believe it?
Listen to the following TRUTH:

A speck inside eternity,
mattering at all?
Your name, your face, your words, your life,
will time itself recall?
Already have been lives too
numerous for life to know,
after you will come so many
that will never know.

But there is a place where you
are known and you will be...
you will not be forgotten as long
is eternity!
In the heart of God Most High,
far greater than all living,
you are known, cared for and loved,
His full attention giving!
No, you are not anonymous
where it counts the most!
Relationship with The Creator,
in this you can boast!
Those moments that are darkest, when
you think nobody feels,
you are desired, seen, embraced--
no lie at all conceals!

Cling fast unto the truth that you
are everything to God!
He sees you, through His living Son,
as righteous and unflawed!
And He desires your face, your words,
your living all the time!
Into the lap of love allow
yourself to freely climb!

Don't let ANYTHING hold you back from a relationship with God! He won't! It is written that "...sin separates us from God," but He has provided Jesus Christ so that we can, yet again, fellowship with Him!
GO FOR IT!!

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