What If We’re Not Perfect?

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What if we're not perfect

Please take a few minutes and think about a friend in your life, one whom you hold especially dear.

Even though that treasured friend may live thousands of miles away, the distance doesn’t matter, does it?

All you have to do is pick up your cellphone and call that special person.

God has blessed us with amazing technology, hasn’t He?

Fortunately, we don’t need a cellphone to talk with God.

No iPhone required

Special apps? No

Cell towers? No way

The signal strength and connectivity are buried deep within your heart.

Do you want to thank God for His blessings, or talk about problems in your life?

He will hear you right away.

How fast do our prayers travel up to Heaven?

Faster than the human mind can even measure.

What if we’re not perfect?

We’re absolutely not “perfect,” so why would God want to hear anything we have to say?

He owes you and me nothing.

There was only one “perfect” person on earth.

Jesus Christ – fully God and fully Man – sent to us by God as our redeeming Savior.

Son of the living God

For God so loved

So why would God even consider us, wretched sinners who often fail Him?

Because He loves us.

Delight in the Lord.

Make your life count for Him!

What is God looking for? He is looking for men and women whose hearts are His — completely. That means there are no locked closets. Nothing’s been swept under the rugs. That means that when you do wrong, you admit it and come to terms with it. You long to please Him in your actions. You care deeply about the motivations behind your actions. God is not looking for magnificent specimens of humanity. He’s looking for deeply spiritual, genuinely humble, honest-to-the-core servants who have integrity. – Chuck Swindoll, Christian pastor, author and educator. 2

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1 Scripture quotation is from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

2 Chuck Swindoll quotation, courtesy of Insight For Living, “Becoming a Man or a Woman after God’s Own Heart,” Insights (April 1997). para. 4. Web. Accessed 4 January, 2020. Copyright © 1997 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide.

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Be Still And Know

What Does It Mean to “Be Still and Know?”

Be still and know

We can find the answer in Psalm 46.

YHWH speaks through His Word to His covenant people throughout the ages.

With Christ as Our Savior and, by His death and resurrection, we are now His covenant people.

Here’s just a portion of this beautiful psalm of peace and praise written for the younger sons of Korah.

Psalm 46

We can have peace knowing that God is our fortress and that He is “with us.”

The God who moves mountains

Who created the smallest and the largest living organisms

The God who created you and me

No problem, whether emotional, physical, or spiritual, is too big for our God. If we will learn to take refuge in Him and lean on Him alone for strength, then with the psalmist we can face the most extreme crises with quiet confidence, because God is with us and He is sufficient. – Steven J. Cole, author and theologian.2

God allows troubles, frustrations, and hardships in our lives.

Don't lose heart

Minor molehills to sky-high mountains.

But we have to trust and take our refuge in Him.

“Quiet confidence”

“Be still”

That’s hard sometimes, isn’t it?

In our quiet moments of prayer, we want everything fixed in our timing.

We may seek out Christian friends, perhaps a Christian counselor – all of whom can be helpful and supportive through the rocky journeys we may be experiencing, but ultimately, God is our strength.

Don’t Lose Heart – We Will See Eternal Restoration

Referencing Isaiah 40, Pastor Mike Fabarez reminds us that some day, at the appointed time, the Glory of the Lord will be revealed. He is the Restorer of all things.

Keeper of promises

No matter where in the world we are at that time, we will all see it.

That should give us confidence that our Lord is a keeper of promises and everything wrong going on will be made right.

Count on Him!

“Have you read the news? Things are not as they ought to be – in the world, in the country, in our state, in our county, probably not in your home and certainly not in our lives. It’s broken and it’s painful and it’s frustrating, and I recognize that. But, as Christians, we don’t lose heart because the mouth of the Lord has spoken, and we understand what He says and we believe what He says and we have confidence in what He says and He’s proved that He can do what He has promised. As a matter of fact, when we study the gospels, we recognize that Jesus assures us of an absolute permanent fix to all things, an eternal restoration of all things.”– Dr. Mike Fabarez, pastor and teaching minister.3

Be Still and Know That I Am God

If you haven’t yet heard Steven Curtis Chapman sing “Be Still and Know”, you’re in for a real treat.

It’s simply beautiful.

This is the song I listen to before I start my Bible study every day.

I hope it blesses you as much as it blesses me.

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1 Scripture quotation is from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

2Steven J. Cole quotation, courtesy of  bible.org, from the series “Psalms.” n.d. 1993. para. 9. Web. Accessed 3 January, 2020. Retrieved from https://bible.org/seriespage/psalm-46-our-sufficient-god.

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Happy New Year 2020

Happy New Year 2020

Wishing You A Happy New Year 2020

Is it me, or did the month of December just speed by like a freight train?

Phew!

Are you ready for the new year?

I need to start remembering to write “2020” now.

That might take about a week. 

Looking Back on Challenges From Last Year

challenges

Looking back over the year 2019, I can honestly say that we have never been hit with so many challenges.

These were both emotional and physical challenges that packed a wallop.

It was surreal because they came without warning, in rapid succession, seemingly out of left field.

We got through it all by holding onto our faith, but that doesn’t mean it was easy.

And, the challenges weren’t just happening to us.

It seemed like most of our friends were dealing with major difficulties during the topsy-turvy year that was 2019.

A Close Call For Someone We Love

There’s something on my heart, and I have to share it.

I’d like to encourage you to pray for God’s protection over all of the dear ones in your life, both now and for their futures.

I believe this is crucial to add to your prayer lists.

You know as well as I do that this is a dangerous world that is getting even worse.

There are hostile people, in need of a Savior, who are running around unrestrained and hell-bent on hurting others, whether through words or deeds.

Recently, and as delicately as I can put it, we almost lost a shining light in our lives in the midst of a horrific crime.

It was that close.

We praise God for His hedge of protection over this situation.

Physical injuries can heal, but emotional wounds take much, much longer.

Comfort from God’s Word, our prayers, and the support from loved ones is vital when life deals a blow.

Honestly, I don’t know how people can get through this life without a strong faith and relationship with Jesus Christ.

The Beauty Of Grace

I‘m grateful that God places certain people in our lives whom we can mutually love and support, pray with, and pray for. There’s nothing sweeter in my eyes than to have someone put their arms around you and pray right then and there for a situation, or to hear the sweet voice of a friend on the phone as he or she prays for you. Prayers are not shackled by distance in the eyes of our Heavenly Father.

In the following passage from Scripture, the Apostle Paul is talking about the sufficiency of believers being found in Jesus Christ. We can often see His grace most clearly in the valleys of our sufferings.

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. – 2 Corinthians 1:3-4, NASB.

See The Miracle

Every day is a gift.

Cherish those in your life who love you back, and pray for those who don’t.

We have our mission.

the Christian life

Happy New Year 2020

Make it count!

the new year 2020

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1 Scripture quotation is from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

2Francis August Schaeffer, (1912-1984), evangelical Christian and theologian. Schaeffer quotation, courtesy of AZquotes.com. “The Complete Works of Francis A. Schaeffer: A Christian view of the church.” Accessed 22 December, 2019. 

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Christmas 2019

Creator of the Heavens and the Earth

King Jesus

23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.” – Matthew 1:23, NASB.

Reverence For King Jesus

If we could condense all the truths of Christmas into only three words, these would be the words: ‘God with us.’ We tend to focus our attention at Christmas on the infancy of Christ. The greater truth of the holiday is His deity. More astonishing than a baby in the manger is the truth that this promised baby is the Omnipotent Creator of the heavens and the earth!1 – John MacArthur, Pastor and Bible Teacher, Grace To You.

On a Personal Note

Thank you for finding this blog post

in the midst of a

very busy holiday season.

I know your time is valuable and I appreciate your being here.

May we delight in God forever.

 

Merry Christmas 2019 to you and yours

Christmas 2019

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1 Scripture quotation is from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

2John MacArthur quotation, courtesy of Christian quotes.info. Accessed 12 December, 2019. 

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Home For Christmas

I’ll Be Home For Christmas!

Cue music  🙂

I'll be home for Christmas

Ahhh, the memories of a Christmas past.

I’ll never forget the time I braved an uncooperative plane, a speeding cab, and a broken-down bus all to get home for Christmas.

Not exactly like the movie “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles” – but close . . . sort of.

What an adventure that was – with its ups and downs, disappointments, breakdowns, and big-time delays, but I was determined to make it home – no matter what.

The Beginning of the Journey Home for Christmas

Many years ago, as a television reporter in Louisiana, I often worked on the holidays. Not fun, but it came with the territory.

One year, it was my turn.

I remember telling my parents, who were living three states away, that I wouldn’t be able to make it home that year.

They were sad, and I was sad. The idea of spending a Christmas alone in my tiny apartment was nothing short of a miserable feeling.

Everyone else had a home to go to for the holidays, except me, whose parents lived out of state.

I had to do something. I remember pleading with the news director and he finally relented with some conditions.

The deal was that I would have to pre-record a few feature stories that the station could run during the Christmas broadcast. If any news emergencies occurred, they would handle it. I was so grateful to him and excited about taking the evening flight home to surprise my parents.

I just wanna get home.

The Friday night after I finished my shift, one of my co-workers gave me a ride to the airport.

He dropped me off, and I headed inside to join the long line at the ticket counter. When it was my turn, the ticket agent gave me the bad news that my flight had been cancelled.

Wait . . . what?

I was devastated. She saw the sad look on my face and told me to hurry outside and catch a cab to the downtown bus station. There was only one bus leaving that night for my hometown.

I jumped into the first cab I could find, and we literally raced to the bus station several miles away.

After “the ride of terror” was over, and a few newly acquired gray hairs made their appearance, the cab driver dropped me off and I got in yet another line to grab one of the last remaining bus tickets home.

I just wanna get home.

home for Christmas

Delays and Frustrations

The adventure continued.

My new mode of transportation started its dicey journey along the icy roads of New Orleans. We got onto the interstate okay, but minutes later, the bus driver pulled over onto the shoulder.

She made the announcement that the bus was breaking down, and we’d have to wait there for a new bus to pick us up to continue the trip.

I checked my watch. Another delay.

I just wanna get home.

About a half hour later, the new bus arrived, and all passengers got on board, hoping that now our journey would be a smooth one and we’d make up all the time we lost.

I was determined to remain positive.

One power nap on this bus, and then I’ll wake up and be home already.

What I didn’t realize was that the bus had to stop in every little town along the way.

Oh, it was frustrating.

Other passengers around me were getting anxious, and sometimes mad. I sat up front near the driver, but it was impossible to get away from the glum vibe circulating in the bus.

The journey continued. All in all, what should have been a 3 ½ hour trip turned into 7 hours.

I just wanna get home.

We finally made it.

Right after 2:00 a.m. that next morning, the bus pulled into my hometown.  

Hallelujah! I’m home.

I got off the bus and saw the most welcoming, unexpected, sight.

It turns out my parents had found out about my little surprise and were there waiting for me!!

The sight of my Dad standing there with his arms open wide to give me a big hug made the journey worth it – even the setbacks.

Trust His Plan

There’s a lesson in this when I think back about it.

Isn’t that what we Christians are waiting and hoping for at our appointed time?

This life is often fraught with disappointments, trials, and delays – but some day in the future, Jesus will welcome us to our eternal home with loving arms.

There will be no homecoming like it.

Our Savior . . . waiting for you, and for me.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Merry Christmas

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