Events of the past two weeks occupy our thoughts like nagging questions and “you can’t make up this story” observations. If I were not a believer in God’s sovereignty, I might dismiss an assassination attempt and a President with diminishing ability dropping out of the race to the top of our nation, and, I might add, the entire world in terms of leadership.
But, I believe God has a plan, and those of us who read scripture know the truth…..
It’s the Lord’s Day. When you worship today, get ready for praise, prayer, listening, and heeding so that we can face the week ahead.
Psalm 59:16-17 is a good place to start getting ready! “I will sing of Your strength, in the morning I will sing of Your love, for You are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. You are my strength. I sing praise to You; You, God, are my fortress, my God on whom I can…..
Ephesians 6:13-14 reminds Christian to “suit up” in the strong armor of faith to face the difficulties in life. It concludes with these words: “Use very piece of God’s armor to resist the enemy in the time of evil, so that after the battle, you will still be standing firm. Stand your ground, putting on the sturdy belt of truth and the body armor of God’s righteousness. “
Like the millions of others, I am following the Republican convention, hearing…..
Things are a bit chaotic, internationally, nationally, and personally today. i am praying for peace. Will you join me?
As NATO meets in New York City, pray Psalm 122:6-8 for Ukraine and that whole section of the world, and certainly for Israel. “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May all who love this city prosper. O Jerusalem, may…..
I was reading Paul’s “discipline” passage this morning, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. I have disciplined my body, mind, typing fingers, and early-morning rises to finish (finally) a book I began two years ago. Here’s what Paul said: “Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away but we do it for an…..
Busyness is addictive., at least for me. As my mom used to say, I have too many ” irons in the fire.” I have no idea where that idiom came from, but I take it to mean she tried to concentrate on too many things at once, and when it was time to used the iron to get rid of the “wrinkles” in her…..
Well, the loud fireworks celebration is over (I hope), and we’ve done the American thing– expressed our thoughts, traveled without showing identification papers, overeaten, and talked politics. Our founders did the same. Not much has changed since 1776. But, there is much controversy, too much negativity, lots of character assassination, backbiting, and jealousy. I suspect that happened back in the day too.
This morning I’ve just read two scripture passages I’d like to concentrate on today. Let me share them……
The Fourth of July holds special meaning for me. In the past, with children in the home, we made a “flag cake” decorated painfully slowly with white icing, blueberries, strawberries, and tiny marshmallows Now it’s the grandchildren’s task.
This year’s a bit different. Our kids and grandkids and our daughter-in-law’s visiting sister’s family mean that Ev and I and Nancy will celebrate somewhat differently. Yes, we’ll do the hamburgers, etc. here in the dining room at Glenbrooke, and we’ll do…..
Once again we attended a festive band concert to honor our country’s July 4th celebration, and once more, one of the featured pieces played was a time to honor our veterans with the special tunes for the Marines, Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine, and now Space Force. The audience clapped for each veteran as he/she arose at the appropriate time. One veteran was ninety-four years old, and struggled to stand. The conductor, the awesome Aaron Collins of the Space…..
As you may or may not know, June 21 is the longest daylight day of the year. Although I rarely advocate Wikipedia as a source of all knowledge, you might want to read its information about summer solstice and its meaning to cultures from earliest times. It was especially sad to see desecration of Stonehenge yesterday by climate protestors. It is thought this remarkable circle of stones in England was used to…..