Inspirations

  Yesterday, my children and I went walking on a bike trail.    The weather was perfect.   Sunny, warm but not hot.   As we were walking, we started to talk about creation.   Creation itself always amazes me.     Can you imagine watching creation unfold at the word of the Almighty?   It would be   the most glorious and lovely thing to see.      As we were talking, I asked,  “What do you think would have happed if  God had created people first?”     They stopped  gave me a questioning look then my daughter said, “I suppose that we would have starved because there was no food.”     And we all had a laugh creating  other scenarios for what might  have happened if creation had happened in any other way.      Yet, the   fact is that creation itself demonstrates that God is a God of order.   Each day of creation built on   what ...

                                   As I was driving home today, I passed a person walking on the side of the    road.  Since it was cold, and snowy, I thought I should stop and offer the person a ride.  As I drove on by, I was irritated with myself for not stopping.  I could have and should have but I didn't. Why?  I was scared! Maybe that wouldn't bother you, but I'm willing to bet there are things that make you afraid.  It may be snakes or spiders that send the ticker into  overdrive.  Or maybe it's your job and finances that keep you up at night when you should be resting.  Then again perhaps it's relationships that consume your thoughts and energy.  As followers of God, we know that we are told not to be afraid.  Yet we often are afraid despite everything we know.   As I was driving away from a misse...

“ Ask  and it will be given to you;  seek  and you will find;  knock  and the door will be opened to you.   Matthew 7:7      The second command after asking is to seek, what we hope to find.  It sounds funny, but we usually only search for what we hope to locate.   In my life, I have looked for many things.  I have looked for combs, socks, or shoes.  For most of these kinds of things, I half-heartedly look for them.  I look but not well because, honestly, they aren't that important.  Other things keys, a phone, or a debit card, I will diligently hunt for it until I am sure they either cannot be found or I have them in my possession again.   If I lose a sock I may look for a short time, but I will not spend hours trying to find it.   It's just not that important.  If, on the other hand, I can't locate my wallet, I assure you, I will leave no stone unturned in my search.  I w...

  “ Ask  and it will be given to you;  seek  and you will find;  knock  and the door will be opened to you.   Matthew 7:7           This is a familiar verse, one that I've heard many times.   It seems pretty straightforward.  We are given three commands.  The first command is to ask. It does not say "tell", or "demand" but ask.  I (personal opinion here) doubt we can or should use a demanding tone with the God of the universe. We should never presume to tell God what to do.  We can, however, ask.  I believe (again personal opinion) that God likes us to ask even though he knows what we want.  As a parent, I loved having my children ask for things they wanted.  It made me happy to know that they felt secure enough to be vulnerable and ask for what they wanted.   The opposite is also true.  There were times when my children were younger that they did not ask for...

  In the same way, let your  light  shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.  Matthew 5:16 When I was growing up, we lived some distance from town.    At that time, most people did not have outside lights,  so at night, the drive to town was almost total darkness.   Since the area where I grew up had lots of hills,  there was nothing more enjoyable than cresting a hill  and seeing little spots of light spread out in the inky blackness before us.   It was comforting to look out the car window and see all those lights.   Today, I still enjoy coming over the top of a hill at night  and seeing the lights of a city in the distance. God says that we are lights in a dark world.   We are to shine so that the world can see.   We are to bring comfort and joy as people pass through this life.

For God so loved  the world that he gave  his one and only Son,  that whoever believes  in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  John 3:16 Love is perhaps one of the most commonly misunderstood words in the English language. We think we know what love means, but, to be honest, we seldom understand it completely. Ask people to define love, and you're likely to get different answers from each one. To many, love is a warm fuzzy feeling that comes and goes. So we love as long as we feel like it, or as long there is something in it for us. People say I "fell" in love as though it was a hole to fall in; something that we have no control over. Truth is this definition makes lovely romantic stories and movies, but if we use that definition of love, we find a very changeable, unstable love. However, when God defined love, He left the divine, heaven, to become human. He was God with human limitations. He chose to live among people who...

I love Christmas!!!  Let me say it again, “I love Christmas.”  Sometimes, even now as an adult, it’s hard for me to wait until Christmas.   There is so much excitement in the air.  It’s almost impossible to wait to give those we love that one-of-a-kind gift. We can’t wait to see the joy in their eyes and on their face when they open the gift and see what you picked up for them.  In fact, for some waiting is so difficult that they give the gift early because the anticipation is so great that they do not have the self-discipline to wait.  It’s also challenging to wait for those gifts that you know others chose for you with love.  Little Children awaken at the crack of dawn in anticipation of those treasures that they know are waiting for them under the tree.  Way back in Genesis, God promised to send a savior who would bridge the gap between Him and man that sin had created.  God, however, d...