Jesus/Church/Sunday

 Most Sundays, Hubby and I travel forty five minutes northward to church.
We do not feel like this is a burden or something to be ticked off our To Do list,  but a genuine desire to intentionally set aside one day of our crazily busy week to honor and worship The Author of our lives.  If we were to be honest in our self evaluation, we would deem it necessary to certainly commit more than the few hours in community worship and daily seeking time to cover our sinful selves.


We are not publicly linked to any one church in membership; our frenetic wandering lives keep us from that kind of commitment.  We see the merit in many kinds of churches meeting many kinds of needs.  In the thirty three years that I have publicly committed to Jesus Christ, I have attended quite a few different types of churches and found that I was where I needed to be for such a time as that in my life.  For  varied reasons, I was lead/directed/inspired to attend varied churches to get all that the Lord was to teach me in that particular location.






I see God's plan in creating the church.  I see the blessed fellowship of the joining together of kindred hearts, lifting up praises to The One that got us through the week.. The One that created me.  That loves me when I am quite unlovable.  The One that saved me into eternity by sacrificing His Son for my sin, disgusting and proliferating as it is. 
 I know, I know, I know that I shall be in Heaven someday despite myself and my propensity for sinning and disappointing.  I know that it has nothing to do with my 'goodness' or what I 'do',  but everything to do with His holiness and His willingness to take my punishment.  This is awesomely overwhelming to me.   If Creation and Salvation from Hell was not enough, He sent His Spirit to strengthen, encourage, support, convict, comfort me while I put in time on this globe.  How could I ever survive the onslaught of this earth without this mighty Triune, Holy, All Knowing, Perfect God?


Everything in my life points back to a Holy God.  All that I have is from Him.  Any talent, wisdom or knowledge comes directly from The One that wants me to know these things for His Greater Purpose that is completely unknown to me.  If I indeed, did know it, I would be so full of myself and abilities that I would be pretty much ridiculous to know.  He alone knows when to take me down a peg and how to do it.  He alone knows how to show me the err of my ways and how to correct it.  He alone cares enough to correct me.


In this world of vast belief systems, I choose God.  
Amidst multitudinous religions, I choose to have faith in the fact that this universe has an orderly fashion ordained by The Only One that could have possibly planned it all.  Anything else just simply takes more faith than I have.




I do so love Jesus.
I am thankful His awesome gift to my life.
For all our lives.  Free and loving and non conditional and obtainable by all.  He has given us instructions.  We just have to decide if we are going to follow it.


Thank you Lord for helping me follow it and forgiving me when I don't.


Blessed Sunday to you....


'And if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old things are gone, behold, the new has come.'  2 Corinthians 5:17

When All is Said and Done...

 The packages are wrapped, cookies and goodies are made, the groceries are procured and the larder is packed good and full.
The littles are scurrying and not quite sure while they can't quite settle down.
Smiles come a bit easier and generosity is contagious.
Familiar locations look festive with their holiday decor.  Even the bathroom bears the insignia of gaiety, smallish trees and bright red ribbons.  Neighbors visit, bearing goods and words that never seem to get shared at any other time of the year.  Cards and wishes are sent miles away that would normally be stalled out on some To Do list.

Why?
Simple.
It's All About the Baby.

The flurry of excitement that fills a family as the expectation of a New Life, is palpable through the miles. In the most modest of homes, celebration for a new member is acknowledged if not able to be wildly celebrated.
It just is the Joy of the Freshly Born that fills all of us, with few exception, with wonder, hope and anticipation of what the next generation shall bring.

And on Christmas, we all get to share the Wildly Exciting Expectancy of The One that will save us from this crumbly thing call The World. Leave it to an Almighty God to package His Savior in a small, newborn baby, knowing how we just cannot resist the freshness that is a infant.  We are drawn inexplicably to the joy that the Newborn of Christmas represents.  How else would this crazy season of Good Will survive in the midst of all the turmoil that this globe struggles with?  Why else would we be so enamored with the season if we realized that it would all be over in couple weeks?  We know, oh yes, we know, that the Spirit that exists in jolly December is available all the time, everywhere, to everyone, deep within our hearts.

But make no mistake, this sweet little Newborn did not stay that way and He is not done with us.  When He returns, we will all certainly recognize Him in all His royal, regal, majestic entrance back to the world that He created and made a plan of saving us from.  Just as an ignored child from a nasty family split, He will remember who attended His life long Birthday Celebration.  It will be interesting.

So as you wrap up your holiday preparations, remember Who the whole hoopla is about and why.  Whether it's the Winter Solstice you celebrate, Kwaanza, Hannukah, or ignore the whole experience, it all comes back to The Birthday Boy.  Every bit of it..

Reflect, peruse and celebrate deep within, the Author of it all......
Most lasting joy and internal peace upon you and yours this Christmas....

Resurrection Day!

'This is the day the LORD has made...Let us rejoice and be glad in it....'

             Psalm 118:24






Truly this is a day to reflect, celebrate, praise and be thankful.
For there is hope.
That hope did not rot in a tomb.
Did not lie to His disciples.
Did not forget His promises.
He was the fulfillment of Words spoken since the dawn of time yet relevant today.
He is eternal.  Everlasting.
And because of what happened on this day thousands of years ago, it is ours today.
Not stuck on this earthly sod nor condemned to repeating lives bound for nowhere.
No indeed.
We have the hope of eternity with the One that created us.  The One in His sovereignty, has designed a plan for us.  We only have to strap on, listen, trust, obey and walk His way with His help.

I stand in awe of the Hope of the Resurrection.  The defeat of death and sin and pain.
I pray you reflect on all that He offers today.....

And be at peace.....
Blessed Easter greetings to you, my friends...