Abby - Psalm 23

Hope you enjoy.

Have a Blessed Day!!!

Christmas Eve

Well, we are knee deep in what is our busiest time of the year. We get to see just about everyone in the family over the next two days. We complain about having to be here and there, but in the end I realize how blessed we are to be able to come together as a family. There are those who have kids abroad, missionaries who haven't been home in years, and then those who are sick and in the hospital. Yes, we are truly blessed and I am thankful for it.

What are you giving God this year for Christmas? Have you even thought about it? For me it is simply what every parent wants......Quality Time. I am gonna give God more of me and my time this year for Christmas.

I hope you and your family have an encounter with Jesus this Christmas and I pray that each of you receive His gift to all of mankind. Watch the Nativity story as a family. I think it paints a pretty good picture of what it was really like.

Have a Merry Christmas and May God Bless You All!!!

Elf On The Shelf

This is one of the 2 pictures on our Christmas cards this year. We are going to mail them out today. But if you look to the right of Sid you will see our little Elf hiding in the tree. This is our new Christmas helper.

My sister, Amy, gave him to the children so we named him Amos. It is a lot of fun. He stays in the house all day and flies back to Santa at night and tells him how the kids were that day. The next day he comes back to a different spot in the house. The kids wake up with excitement each morning to find where he is in the house.

This can be turned into a great life lesson. The lesson that someone is always watching. I plan to use this Christmas Eve as I talk to the kids before Amos makes his final journey to the North Pole. Just like Amos and even more important......God watches us every minute of everyday. But His gift is far greater than what we open on Christmas morning, it is the reason we celebrate Christmas. Jesus came so that we may join God in the home He has prepared for us. How awesome is that?.

I would like to report that Sid and Lillie are acting better and Amos is helping restore a little order, but it would be a lie. The fact is that they are no different than we are. We understand far greater than our children, yet we still daily disappoint God. Look at these verses from Psalms 139:
1 O LORD, you have searched me
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you know it completely, O LORD.
5 You hem me in—behind and before;
you have laid your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?

Have a Blessed Day!!!

Less Than A Week

I can't believe this time next week it will be Jesus' birthday. Wow the time really flies. I hope you have all your shopping done and will just be able to sit back this year and truly celebrate the reason for the season. That would be my wish for each and everyone of you!!!

Have a Blessed Day!!!

Dodgeball - A Spiritual Gift

I laugh out loud every time I watch this. Hope you enjoy.

Have a Blessed Day!!!

Mary

Have you ever really looked at the people throughout the Bible and examined how much faith they had? I am completely amazed every time I research this. Especially this time of the year, when I look at Mary.

Here we have a young lady who was not married and an Angel appeared to her and proclaimed that she would give birth to God's son. And her response was immediate! Lets look at this passage:
38 And Mary said, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.
Luke 1:38 (NASB)

There was no "let me think about it" or "are you sure you have the right address", no.... Mary was eager to be used by God to fulfill his plan. Never mind that she would be ridiculed, possibly stoned, and exiled...... she said YES.

How do you answer God when He ask something of you? Have you ever felt God pulling you in a certain direction, or asking you to do something and you ignored Him. Thinking to yourself "that can't be God I feel, it must be the fajitas I had for lunch". God is still very much in control, He is still whispering truth to us (His children), and He still uses Angels everyday to protect us. The Bible says in Psalms that God commands the Angels to protect us.

We do serve; not only a risen savior, but a loving Father and He wants to very much be a part of our lives daily. Not just on Sundays. Are you listening and watching for His direction in your life?

Have a Blessed Day!!!

Pitfalls

Have you ever looked at someones pitfalls to make yourself look good? You know what I'm talking about. The way in which we judge our actions by that of our peers. We have a knack for making the ugliest sin in our life look good by comparing it to a worse sin that someone we know has committed.

I am as guilty of this as the next guy, but God has been pointing me in the direction of truth lately. And that simple truth is that sin is sin.....plain and simple. It doesn't matter what the violation; in God's eyes, it is all sin.

With Jesus, we get everything we need to conquer any sin, but we get stupid and think we can do it alone and that is when we sin. All we have to do is read His word, rely on Him in every situation, and keep our eyes fixed on Him. Read these verses from 2 Corinthians:

16 So we're not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. 17 These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. 18 There's far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever.
2 Cor 4:16-18 (MSG)

So the next time you see a brother sin, instead of pointing to his weakness to make you look better, pick him up, lift him up, and point him in the direction of Jesus.

Have a Blessed Day!!!

An Unspoken Plea

Do you know anyone like this? I think we can all take something from her plea.

Have a Blessed Day!!!

God Provides

My good friend Brandon Whitworth sent me this email and I wanted to pass it along. I hope you enjoy and thanks again Brandon.

Saw your blog on the fact that your Sunday school class studying the book of Exodus, so I thought I’d pass this along. Don’t know of it’s complete validity but with 3,000,000 people these stats make sense to me!
Blessings my brother!
Brandon

Moses in the desert! (And you think God can’t take care of you!)
Moses and the people were in the desert, but what was he going to do with them? They had to be fed, and feeding 2 or 3 million people requires a lot of food. According to the Quartermaster General in the Army, this is what all Moses would have to do:

1. 1500 tons of food each day - That’s two freight trains, each at least a mile long

2. 4000 tons of wood for cooking - 2more freight trains, each a mile long, just for one day.

3. 11,000,000 gallons of water each day - This would take a freight train with tank cars, almost 20 miles long, just to bring water!

4. And then another thing! They had to get across the Red Sea at night. Now, if they went on a narrow path, double file, the line would be 800 miles long and would require 35 days and nights getting through. So there had to be a space in the Red Sea, 3 miles wide so that they could walk 5000 abreast to get over in one night.

5. But then, there is another problem...............each time they camped at the end of the day, a campground two-thirds the size of the state of Rhode Island was required, or a total of 750 square miles long........ Think of it! This much space for camping!
Do you think Moses figured all this out before he left Egypt? I think not! You see, Moses believed in God. God took care of these things for him. Now do you think God has any problem taking care of all your needs?

Have a Blessed Day!!!