More Than Today

WHAT ARE WE HANGING ON TO? The cheerful girl with bouncy golden curls was almost five. Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw them: a circle of glistening white pearls in a pink foil box. "Oh please, Mommy. Can I have them? Please, Mommy, please?" Quickly the mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked back into the pleading blue eyes of her little girl's upturned face. A dollar ninety-five. That's almost $2.00. If you really want them, I'll think of some extra chores for you and in no time you can save enough money to buy them for yourself. Your birthday's only a week away and you might get another crisp dollar bill from Grandma." As soon as Jenny got home, she emptied her penny bank and counted out 17 pennies. After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and she went to the neighbor and asked Mrs. McJames if she could pick dandelions for ten cents. On her birthday, Grandma did give her another ne...

PUSHING AGAINST THE ROCK [-Author Unknown]. There was a man who was asleep one night in his cabin when suddenly his room was filled with light and the Savior appeared. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do, and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might. The man did day after day. For many years he toiled from sun up to sun down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain. Seeing that the man was showing signs of discouragement, Satan decided to enter the picture placing thoughts into the man's mind such as; "You have been pushing against that rock for a long time and it hasn't budged. Why kill yourself over this? You are never going to move it? etc." Thus, giving the man the impressi...

After reading my blog entry that follows this one, a friend sent me the following prayer. Enjoy! Dear God, When we are too well pleased with ourselves, When our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, When we arrived safely because we sailed too close to shore, Disturb us, Lord, when with the abundance of the things we possess, we have lost our thirst for the water of life. Stir us, Lord, to dare more boldly, to venture on wider seas, where storms will show your mastery. Where losing sight of land, we shall find stars. We ask you to push the horizons of our hopes, and to push us into the future in strength, courage, hope and love. Amen. May we continue to radically and unconditionally trust that our God goes with us, that our future is full of hope, and that we have nothing to fear. Father Jim Schwartz, St. Louis Church If you haven't already done so, read the entry below.

Recently I was reading Deuteronomy 9:4. Here the writer is reminding the people of Israel about how the Lord God led them through the desert and is about to lead them into the Promised Land. When they cross over and conquer the inhabitants, they are to remember who was responsible for their victory. "After the LORD your God has done this for you, don't say to yourselves, 'The Lord has given us this land because we are so righteous!'" It is great to win, to succeed, to accomplish what we set out to do. But when we do this we need to remember that it could not have happened without God. "Lord, forgive me that when life's circumstances lift me to the crest of the wave, I tend to forget you. Yet, like an errant child, I have blamed you with my every failure, even as I credit myself with every success. When my fears evaporate like the morning mist, then vainly I imagine that I am sufficient unto myself, that material resources and human reso...

"Too Busy NOT to Praise" We need to move from pressure to praise. We can get so busy that we don't take the time to say "Thank You" to those we love, including God. We have lots of "stuff" but we're lost. A 90-year-old man was crying on the sidewalk of a city. Someone stopped and was trying to calm the man down. The old man began to tell how he had a beautiful 24-year-old wife at home who was a great cook, cleaned the house, and really took care of him well. The other person asked the old man, "Well, what's wrong then?" The old man replied, "I don't know how to get home." Praising helps us get home. We stop what we're doing and say thank you to God for what He has done for us and for who He is. We move from pressure to praise: 1. When praise and worship is a priority. • We will be available to God. Romans 12:1. And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies...

“When Life Is Out Of Control” Luke 7:1-17 In a small west Texas town, a fire broke out in the town’s only oil well. This well was a major source of employment and income for this little town. When the fire went on for days and no one seemed to be able to put it out, they decided to offer a reward to anyone who came up with a plan to extinguish the fire. A young man drove up to the Mayor soon after that. He was driving an old, beat-up pickup truck and wearing old clothes. He told the Mayor that he thought he had a way to get the fire out and he would do it the next morning. Well, the news soon spread all over town and the next morning everyone from town was out by the burning oil well. Pretty soon they saw this old, beat-up pickup truck coming up over the rise. In the back of it must have been every relative this young guy had. As the people watched, the pickup truck kept dri...

Derek Redmond, a 26-year-old from England, was favored to win the 400-meter race in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Halfway into his semifinal heat, a fiery pain seared through his right leg. He crumpled to the track with a torn hamstring. As the medical attendants were approaching, Redmond fought to his feet. “It was animal instinct,” he would later say. He set out hopping, pushing away the coaches in a crazed attempt to finish the race. When he reached the stretch, a big man pushed through the crowd. He was wearing a t-shirt that read “Have you hugged your child today?” and a hat that challenged, “Just Do It.” The man was Jim Redmond, Derek’s father. “You don’t have to do this,” he told his weeping son. “Yes, I do,” Derek declared. “Well, then,” said Jim, “we’re going to finish this together.” And they did. Jim wrapped Derek’s arm around his shoulder and helped him hobble to the finish line. Fighting off security men, the son’s head sometimes buried in the fath...

Here's an interesting article on forgiveness and dealing with sin that other people know about.

After reading Psalm 51 today, which regards the time when the prophet Nathan came to David after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba, I read a prayer. Both the Psalm and the prayer spoke to me and I share them with you. Psalm 51:1-3 (New Living Translation) "Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin. For I recognize my shameful deeds--they haunt me day and night." "I confess, Lord, with thanksgiving, that you have made me in your image so that I can remember you, think of you, and love you. But that image is so worn and blotted out by faults, and darkened by the smoke of sin, that it cannot do that for which it was made unless you renew and refashion it. Lord, I am not trying to make my way to your height, for my understanding is in no way equal to that, but I do desire to understand a little of your truth, which my he...

While at a web site, I read of a church that was all ready to move forward for God when division struck. One staff person is going to lose his job. I responded in this way. Perhaps these words might encourage you also in whatever is happening to you or to someone you know today. "I pray for you that you will know how much God loves you and cares for you. I pray that God's Holy Spirit will reveal to you how you can grow closer through this experience. I pray that the others in the church and community who will walk away will not walk away from God. And I pray that God will grant a special drawing power to another church in your community to help pick up the pieces of those who are left stranded. As Hurricane Isabel is expected to make a direct hit and not a sidewise swipe, so you have taken a direct hit. God will see you through the eye of the storm and as it passes will show you others to help whose lives are split apart. Like too many others, I have been where you...

I just checked my e-mail after getting home from church and discovered ads, jokes, ... and a request for prayer. What a summary of life. There are ads all around us to buy this or that, try this or that, go here or there... And jokes spice up our lives to add a smile when we need it and even when we didn't realize we did. I'm thankful for humor in life. And prayer requests? Someone needing prayer not only connects me with a friend in need but also reminds me of God's goodness to me so many times. This past year as I faced surgery twice for my thyroid, and what turned out to be cancer, I was so grateful for prayers on my behalf. God was so good to bring me through with just a "little" cancer and continues to be with me as I go through life. Prayer support was so wonderful. So I continue in my life with ads, jokes, and prayer requests...and more, because of the power of God at work through the Holy Spirit.

Well, here it is again...September 11. But it's two years later and hopefully no planes will crash into buildings. Still, the world has changed for us. As I was reading my Bible this morning, I read Psalm 34:4. "I prayed to the LORD, and he answered me, freeing me from all my fears." The "commentary" and a prayer in The Praise and Worship Study Bible seemed especially relevant on this day so I pass it on to you. People often try to rid themselves of fear by trusting solely in human efforts to keep them safe from harm. Ultimately, however, we humans are limited in our abilities and cannot protect ourselves from every danger. Only God can truly free us from fear, because he is the only one who is all-powerful and able to deal with any threat. The Lord is always watching over us and has already secured our eternal well-being, so we can depend on God and receive true peace. Let us cast all our cares on the Lord and praise him that he frees us from fear...

Where was God when…the tough times came? “The seeds that fell on rocky ground stand for those who hear the message and receive it gladly.” Luke 8:13a Maybe that was you when you were younger. Believing in God and Jesus was easy if you grew up in Christian families or among Christian people. But for me I wanted to feel it, to know it for sure. So as a child, I responded to a lot of altar calls. The preacher would preach and then invite anyone who wanted to become a Christian to come forward, kneel at the altar, and pray a prayer to receive Jesus. I responded at church camps and at church. I didn’t quit going up until I knew I had what I was looking for. My Dad says that I responded to so many altar calls that when our family would visit a church he and my mother would sit on each side of me. They didn’t want to stop me from responding but they wanted to slow me down. Finally one night at church when I was about 8 years old I went forward and that night I knew it was re...

In Brennan Manning’s book The Ragamuffin Gospel (page 86) he writes, • “The question which the gospel of grace puts to us is simply this: Who shall separate you from the love of Christ? What are you afraid of? • Are you afraid that your weakness could separate you from the love of Christ? It can’t. • Are you afraid that your inadequacies could separate you from the love of Christ? They can’t. • Are you afraid that your inner poverty could separate you from the love of Christ? It can’t. • Difficult marriage, loneliness, anxiety over the children’s future? They can’t. • Negative self-image? It can’t. • Economic hardship, racial hatred, street crime? They can’t. • Rejection by loved ones or the suffering of loved ones? They can’t. • Persecution by authorities, going to jail? They can’t. • Nuclear war? It can’t. • Mistakes, fears, uncertainties? They can’t. • The gospel of grace calls out: Nothing can ever separate you from the love of God made vi...

As I was reading the story of Joseph in prison in Genesis 39, I came across this “Prayer for the Fulfillment of God’s Will” written by Phillips Brooks in the 1800’s. Joseph had been obedient to God and was still following God even after being sold into slavery by his brothers. He had been a good worker for his master and yet had been accused of attempting to rape his master’s wife. His master put him in jail where he still remained faithful to God. In all circumstances of life, Joseph stayed true to God. This prayer struck me and I wanted to share it. Read it, pray it, pass it on, or pass it by as you see fit. Perhaps just a few words of it will touch your heart today, some day soon or down the road somewhere. O Lord, by your dealings with us, whether of joy or pain, of light or darkness, let us be brought to you. Let us value no treatment of your grace simply because it makes us happy or because it makes us sad, because it gives us or denies us what we want; but may all ...