I've never seen the sun's rays flowing upwards before, have you? I thought they only flowed downwards and sideways.
4/10/11
UPWARD SUN RAYS?
I've never seen the sun's rays flowing upwards before, have you? I thought they only flowed downwards and sideways.
4/7/11
SMOKE IN THE COCKPIT
Just finished reading this message on Ron Hutchcraft's blog this morning, and thought it well worth sharing. It's called SMOKE IN THE COCKPIT: SOULS IN THE CABIN.
"If you've been flying commercially recently, it's probably best if you were too busy to watch the news. Let's see - there's the plane that suddenly had a hole in the roof - and the ones where they've found cracks since then. Oh yeah, and the plane with the bullet hole in it.
Today I heard about a flight where the cockpit began to fill with smoke, followed by a shutdown of the plane's electrical systems. Systems that power critical systems. Uh-oh. They played the cockpit recording of a pilot radioing the emergency to the tower. He sounded amazingly calm and unafraid. And he brought everyone in safely. I couldn't help but notice his description of the people he was carrying. He told the flight controller that "we have 106 souls on board." Not passengers. Souls.
I first heard that perspective when our family was flying across Alaska with a missionary pilot. As we sat on the runway, waiting to be cleared for takeoff, he said, "Six souls aboard." We weren't passengers. We were souls.
You know, after all is said and done, a "soul" is what we are It's wrapped in an "earth suit" that we need for our relatively brief journey on this planet. Like an astronaut with his "moon suit" - needed for a short time to survive in an environment that requires it But it's temporary. The real person's inside - even after they take off that suit they had to wear.
We spend so much time buffing, beautifying or gratifying our earth suit. And, too often, neglecting the real person inside. Our soul. The Bible's Creation account says, "The Lord God formed the man...and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living soul" (Genesis 1:7 ). Jesus revealed how much one soul is worth when He asked that haunting question, "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?" (Mark 8:36 ). Cruising for a little while. Lost for all eternity. Because you neglect the one part of you that will be around forever. Your soul.
I'm looking through God's glasses when I look at the people around me and see souls. Not just neighbors or coworkers or teammates, family members or friends. I want to look past the superficial "packaging" and see who they really are - they're ever-living, never-dying souls. People who are future inhabitants of eternity in a place God calls heaven or a place God calls hell.
And we have nothing more important to do with these few earth-years than to prepare for eternity. To make sure our soul is right with God. In fact, it's not. The Bible delivers the bad news that "the soul who sins is the one who will die" (Ezekiel 18:5 ). That's "die" as in being separated from God forever. The problem is that "all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory" (Romans 3:23 ). Even us religious folks - our soul is headed for an unthinkable future.
But God gave us good news that's "gooder" than the bad news. Speaking of Jesus, He says, "Everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name" (Acts 10:43 ). Jesus did the dying for my sinning. So at the moment I put all my trust in Him, my soul is, in God's words, "saved." The alternative? As Jesus said, "losing my soul."
When you've turned the controls of your life over to Jesus, you're flying with the Pilot who will always bring you in safely. When Jesus counts the souls on board, I hope you'll be with Him."
"If you've been flying commercially recently, it's probably best if you were too busy to watch the news. Let's see - there's the plane that suddenly had a hole in the roof - and the ones where they've found cracks since then. Oh yeah, and the plane with the bullet hole in it.
Today I heard about a flight where the cockpit began to fill with smoke, followed by a shutdown of the plane's electrical systems. Systems that power critical systems. Uh-oh. They played the cockpit recording of a pilot radioing the emergency to the tower. He sounded amazingly calm and unafraid. And he brought everyone in safely. I couldn't help but notice his description of the people he was carrying. He told the flight controller that "we have 106 souls on board." Not passengers. Souls.
I first heard that perspective when our family was flying across Alaska with a missionary pilot. As we sat on the runway, waiting to be cleared for takeoff, he said, "Six souls aboard." We weren't passengers. We were souls.
You know, after all is said and done, a "soul" is what we are It's wrapped in an "earth suit" that we need for our relatively brief journey on this planet. Like an astronaut with his "moon suit" - needed for a short time to survive in an environment that requires it But it's temporary. The real person's inside - even after they take off that suit they had to wear.
We spend so much time buffing, beautifying or gratifying our earth suit. And, too often, neglecting the real person inside. Our soul. The Bible's Creation account says, "The Lord God formed the man...and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living soul" (Genesis 1:7 ). Jesus revealed how much one soul is worth when He asked that haunting question, "What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul?" (Mark 8:36 ). Cruising for a little while. Lost for all eternity. Because you neglect the one part of you that will be around forever. Your soul.
I'm looking through God's glasses when I look at the people around me and see souls. Not just neighbors or coworkers or teammates, family members or friends. I want to look past the superficial "packaging" and see who they really are - they're ever-living, never-dying souls. People who are future inhabitants of eternity in a place God calls heaven or a place God calls hell.
And we have nothing more important to do with these few earth-years than to prepare for eternity. To make sure our soul is right with God. In fact, it's not. The Bible delivers the bad news that "the soul who sins is the one who will die" (Ezekiel 18:5 ). That's "die" as in being separated from God forever. The problem is that "all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory" (Romans 3:23 ). Even us religious folks - our soul is headed for an unthinkable future.
But God gave us good news that's "gooder" than the bad news. Speaking of Jesus, He says, "Everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name" (Acts 10:43 ). Jesus did the dying for my sinning. So at the moment I put all my trust in Him, my soul is, in God's words, "saved." The alternative? As Jesus said, "losing my soul."
When you've turned the controls of your life over to Jesus, you're flying with the Pilot who will always bring you in safely. When Jesus counts the souls on board, I hope you'll be with Him."
3/25/11
MORE CLOUDS
3/15/11
INTERESTING CLOUDS
The clouds in my neck of the woods have been just amazing lately. Maybe they always have been and I just never noticed before? Maybe not. But this batch, in particular, made me think of a verse in 1 Corinthians 13:12--"For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known."
3/11/11
OH TO BE MORE LIKE JESUS...
...who when He was betrayed and Peter tried to defend him by striking the servant of the high priest and cutting off his ear said, "Put your sword in its place. ...do you think that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels? How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus (Matthew 26:52-54)?" And so "He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth (Isaiah 53:7)."
The incident that caused me such indignity and outrage today was minor by comparison, and yet if I had had even a fraction of a legion of angels at my disposal, I would surely have called them down and wreaked havoc in that store, whose name I will not mention. Since I couldn't do that, I threatened to write a letter to the local paper. I would have done anything in my power to inflict some pain.
Of course my outburst did nothing except get me all riled up. The owner told me to go head and write the letter, and even gave me his name to include, which only enraged me further. And my question as to whether community minded meant you are all gracious and smiley to customers until you get their money, and then you don't give two hoots about how they're going to get the merchandise out of the store didn't seem to phase him at all either.
I stomped out with one final retort. "I hope you sleep well tonight and like what you see when you look at your face in the mirror in the morning." Then I raged all the way home, promising myself I would never set foot in that store again, and composing a letter in my head to the editor of the local paper, an article exposing them on FaceBook, and a post on our Mayor's wall, all intended to make the community aware of what truly lay in the hearts of these supposedly civic-minded folks .
Of course, by the time I got home I had cooled down and decided to limit myself to just this one blog post in which I wouldn't mention any names. I thought of an e-mail our Bible study teacher, Barb, had sent out to us this morning on humility and how Christ gave up the right to his rights as God when He became man and was willing to assume all the indignity, hurt, and rejection of the world. He was the only man who ever lived who didn't have to die, and yet He did. Instead of giving up or walking away from us, He willingly chose to suffer death on the cross to pay for our sins. Then Barb ended her e-mail by asking us to consider this when we are tempted to withdraw from other Christians.
I wonder if that store owner is a Christian. He surely didn't act like one. But then, neither did I. Just saying.
The incident that caused me such indignity and outrage today was minor by comparison, and yet if I had had even a fraction of a legion of angels at my disposal, I would surely have called them down and wreaked havoc in that store, whose name I will not mention. Since I couldn't do that, I threatened to write a letter to the local paper. I would have done anything in my power to inflict some pain.
Of course my outburst did nothing except get me all riled up. The owner told me to go head and write the letter, and even gave me his name to include, which only enraged me further. And my question as to whether community minded meant you are all gracious and smiley to customers until you get their money, and then you don't give two hoots about how they're going to get the merchandise out of the store didn't seem to phase him at all either.
I stomped out with one final retort. "I hope you sleep well tonight and like what you see when you look at your face in the mirror in the morning." Then I raged all the way home, promising myself I would never set foot in that store again, and composing a letter in my head to the editor of the local paper, an article exposing them on FaceBook, and a post on our Mayor's wall, all intended to make the community aware of what truly lay in the hearts of these supposedly civic-minded folks .
Of course, by the time I got home I had cooled down and decided to limit myself to just this one blog post in which I wouldn't mention any names. I thought of an e-mail our Bible study teacher, Barb, had sent out to us this morning on humility and how Christ gave up the right to his rights as God when He became man and was willing to assume all the indignity, hurt, and rejection of the world. He was the only man who ever lived who didn't have to die, and yet He did. Instead of giving up or walking away from us, He willingly chose to suffer death on the cross to pay for our sins. Then Barb ended her e-mail by asking us to consider this when we are tempted to withdraw from other Christians.
I wonder if that store owner is a Christian. He surely didn't act like one. But then, neither did I. Just saying.
3/7/11
SINCERELY WRONG
"For false christs and false prophets will
rise and show great signs and wonders
to deceive, if possible, even the elect."
(Matthew 24:24)
Growing up I desperately wanted to be accepted, to be one of the crowd. I hated feeling 'different,' and as though I was always on the outside looking in. I hated being made fun of and being picked last for teams. I hated not having the kind of family everybody else seemed to have.
Later, in my teens, I dreamed of falling in love and getting married to someone I would grow old with. I dreamed of having a solid, close-knit family that enjoyed each other's company and did things together. And I did fall in love and get married and have a family, but my husband and I did not grow old together, and the many mistakes I made as a single mom pretty much killed any chance for the strong, bonded family I had yearned for.
After my husband passed away, I went through a time of searching for roots, for something that would make me feel grounded, that would give me a sense of purpose. Long story short, I discovered New Age and the occult and felt as though I had finally come home. Astrology, metaphysics, the concept of karma and reincarnation, opened up a whole new world that seemed to provide all the answers that had heretofore eluded me. I had finally found my roots, and what I sincerely believed to be truth. My days of searching were over.
I embraced these new ideologies with a passion and eventually became a numerologist. As such, I started doing readings for folks and was even published, which brought me the acceptance I had so craved in my early years. Now, all of a sudden, I was seen as an expert. People were actually seeking me out to tell them what the future had in store.
How I got from there to here is not really what this post is about. If you are interested in that part, you can check out the My Testimony link on my sidebar or click here. This post is about how my vulnerability led to my believing a lie, and how that led to my misleading other people and getting them to buy into that lie too. I was not consciously deceiving anyone, I was just sincerely wrong, and if I can reach even one person through this post who is living under the same kind of deception I was back then and help you see the light, then baring my soul like this will have been worthwhile.
If I were to see you headed towards some imminent danger, such as a gaping hole in the sidewalk ahead of you, it would be unconscionable of me not to warn you of what lay ahead, and I would not hesitate to do so--even yanking you aside if necessary. So why the hesitation when the danger is spiritual, and therefore invisible? I guess, in my case, it's fear of rejection, of being judged, all the things I struggled with at the beginning of my life, but I know that I can't let those things stop me any longer. There's too much at stake.
Don't be deceived, as I was, into thinking that there are many paths to God, or that we get to Heaven by being 'good.' Although we were created to have fellowship with God, Adam and Eve's sin caused us to be born into a fallen world. The Bible tells us in Romans 3:23 that "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," and "The wages of sin is death." Because of sin there is a great gulf that separates us from God, and there is no way we can cross it through our own efforts. There is only one path that can lead us to eternal life, and that is Jesus, "the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through [Him]" (John 14:6).
The good news is that "God so loved the world (you and me included) that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). In fact, God loves you so much that even if you were the only person on this Earth, He would still have sent Jesus to die for your sins so you could be set free.
This gift of salvation that is being handed to you can only be received by grace, through faith. It cannot be earned by good works (Ephesians 2:8-9). And as much as it is not God's will for anyone to perish, He will not impose His will on you or force you to accept it. The choice is yours.
Jesus stands at the door of your heart, knocking and waiting for you to answer (Revelation 3:20). I pray that you would open the door before it is too late, and accept His invitation to enter your life, forgive your sins, and make you a new creation.
rise and show great signs and wonders
to deceive, if possible, even the elect."
(Matthew 24:24)
Growing up I desperately wanted to be accepted, to be one of the crowd. I hated feeling 'different,' and as though I was always on the outside looking in. I hated being made fun of and being picked last for teams. I hated not having the kind of family everybody else seemed to have.
Later, in my teens, I dreamed of falling in love and getting married to someone I would grow old with. I dreamed of having a solid, close-knit family that enjoyed each other's company and did things together. And I did fall in love and get married and have a family, but my husband and I did not grow old together, and the many mistakes I made as a single mom pretty much killed any chance for the strong, bonded family I had yearned for.
After my husband passed away, I went through a time of searching for roots, for something that would make me feel grounded, that would give me a sense of purpose. Long story short, I discovered New Age and the occult and felt as though I had finally come home. Astrology, metaphysics, the concept of karma and reincarnation, opened up a whole new world that seemed to provide all the answers that had heretofore eluded me. I had finally found my roots, and what I sincerely believed to be truth. My days of searching were over.
I embraced these new ideologies with a passion and eventually became a numerologist. As such, I started doing readings for folks and was even published, which brought me the acceptance I had so craved in my early years. Now, all of a sudden, I was seen as an expert. People were actually seeking me out to tell them what the future had in store.
How I got from there to here is not really what this post is about. If you are interested in that part, you can check out the My Testimony link on my sidebar or click here. This post is about how my vulnerability led to my believing a lie, and how that led to my misleading other people and getting them to buy into that lie too. I was not consciously deceiving anyone, I was just sincerely wrong, and if I can reach even one person through this post who is living under the same kind of deception I was back then and help you see the light, then baring my soul like this will have been worthwhile.
If I were to see you headed towards some imminent danger, such as a gaping hole in the sidewalk ahead of you, it would be unconscionable of me not to warn you of what lay ahead, and I would not hesitate to do so--even yanking you aside if necessary. So why the hesitation when the danger is spiritual, and therefore invisible? I guess, in my case, it's fear of rejection, of being judged, all the things I struggled with at the beginning of my life, but I know that I can't let those things stop me any longer. There's too much at stake.
Don't be deceived, as I was, into thinking that there are many paths to God, or that we get to Heaven by being 'good.' Although we were created to have fellowship with God, Adam and Eve's sin caused us to be born into a fallen world. The Bible tells us in Romans 3:23 that "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," and "The wages of sin is death." Because of sin there is a great gulf that separates us from God, and there is no way we can cross it through our own efforts. There is only one path that can lead us to eternal life, and that is Jesus, "the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through [Him]" (John 14:6).
The good news is that "God so loved the world (you and me included) that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). In fact, God loves you so much that even if you were the only person on this Earth, He would still have sent Jesus to die for your sins so you could be set free.
This gift of salvation that is being handed to you can only be received by grace, through faith. It cannot be earned by good works (Ephesians 2:8-9). And as much as it is not God's will for anyone to perish, He will not impose His will on you or force you to accept it. The choice is yours.
Jesus stands at the door of your heart, knocking and waiting for you to answer (Revelation 3:20). I pray that you would open the door before it is too late, and accept His invitation to enter your life, forgive your sins, and make you a new creation.
3/3/11
DO YOU KNOW?
At first I thought these were unusual cloud formations I hadn't noticed before, but then I realized they were not clouds at all. They are long streaks of smoke(?) trailing behind planes that spend hours flying back and forth across the skies in my neck of the woods.
Back in the day when I was young, there were planes called skywriters that used to do that too, but they would write stuff in the sky--not just create thin white lines that start looking like clouds as they start to disperse.
Do any of you know what the purpose of these planes might be today? It must be pretty boring doing nothing but draw line after line all day every day. But then who am I to say?
3/2/11
A CLOUDY FEBRUARY SUNDAY MORN
Thank goodness for digital cameras. I think I'd be broke and in debt by now if I were still having to buy film. ☺
2/25/11
A REMINDER TO ME (AND TO YOU TOO IF YOU NEED IT)
"I will praise You, for I am fearfully and
wonderfully made... Your eyes saw my
substance, being yet unformed, And in
your book they all were written, The days
fashioned for me, When as yet there were
none of them." - (Psalm139:14a, 16)
This blog will be celebrating its four-year anniversary in March, and as the date approaches, I find myself wondering why I keep it alive. This question has led to a steady stream of thoughts, mostly negative, which I know are not from the Lord.
There were several reasons I started blogging. Some personal, but it was also my hope that in some way I could brighten at least one person's day, or perhaps offer encouragement to another. Lately, though, there's this little voice in my head that keeps saying, "What's so special about you that makes you feel you have something to offer? What do you have to say that hasn't already been said by someone else, and said better?" At the same time, there's a warning light flashing off and on: BEWARE OF FALLING INTO THE TRAP OF COMPARING YOURSELF TO OTHERS.
To confirm above warning, I came upon this very timely devotional during my quiet time this morning. It happens to be a January devotion, which I would not have seen on this particular February day, except that it's in a book, Streams in the Desert, I just purchased a few days ago and decided to start reading from the beginning. No such thing as coincidence!
Anyway, this particular devotional tells the story of a king who goes into his garden one morning and finds everything withered and dying. He starts asking the plants what the problem is. The oak says it doesn't want to live any more because it's not tall and beautiful like the pine tree, the pine tree is upset because it can't bear grapes like the grapevine, the grapevine bemoans the fact that that it doesn't produce fruit as large as the peaches on the peach tree, the geranium is disheartened because it's not tall and fragrant like the lilac, and so on it goes throughout the garden until the king gets to the little violet and and comments on how happy he is to see at least one flower bright and perky. To which the violet responds, "I know I'm small, yet I thought if you wanted an oak or a pine or a peach tree or even a lilac, you would have planted one. Since I knew you wanted a violet, I'm determined to be the best little violet I can be."
What a great reminder that God loves me just as I am, and that I'm a Divine original (which you are too) created for a special purpose that no one else can fulfill. Summed up so beautifully in the little poem at the end of the devotional:
Others may do a greater work,
But you have your part to do;
And no one in all God's family
Can do it as well as you.
wonderfully made... Your eyes saw my
substance, being yet unformed, And in
your book they all were written, The days
fashioned for me, When as yet there were
none of them." - (Psalm139:14a, 16)
This blog will be celebrating its four-year anniversary in March, and as the date approaches, I find myself wondering why I keep it alive. This question has led to a steady stream of thoughts, mostly negative, which I know are not from the Lord.
There were several reasons I started blogging. Some personal, but it was also my hope that in some way I could brighten at least one person's day, or perhaps offer encouragement to another. Lately, though, there's this little voice in my head that keeps saying, "What's so special about you that makes you feel you have something to offer? What do you have to say that hasn't already been said by someone else, and said better?" At the same time, there's a warning light flashing off and on: BEWARE OF FALLING INTO THE TRAP OF COMPARING YOURSELF TO OTHERS.
To confirm above warning, I came upon this very timely devotional during my quiet time this morning. It happens to be a January devotion, which I would not have seen on this particular February day, except that it's in a book, Streams in the Desert, I just purchased a few days ago and decided to start reading from the beginning. No such thing as coincidence!
Anyway, this particular devotional tells the story of a king who goes into his garden one morning and finds everything withered and dying. He starts asking the plants what the problem is. The oak says it doesn't want to live any more because it's not tall and beautiful like the pine tree, the pine tree is upset because it can't bear grapes like the grapevine, the grapevine bemoans the fact that that it doesn't produce fruit as large as the peaches on the peach tree, the geranium is disheartened because it's not tall and fragrant like the lilac, and so on it goes throughout the garden until the king gets to the little violet and and comments on how happy he is to see at least one flower bright and perky. To which the violet responds, "I know I'm small, yet I thought if you wanted an oak or a pine or a peach tree or even a lilac, you would have planted one. Since I knew you wanted a violet, I'm determined to be the best little violet I can be."
What a great reminder that God loves me just as I am, and that I'm a Divine original (which you are too) created for a special purpose that no one else can fulfill. Summed up so beautifully in the little poem at the end of the devotional:
Others may do a greater work,
But you have your part to do;
And no one in all God's family
Can do it as well as you.
1/27/11
THUNDER SNOWSTORM
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