Laura

About three years ago I met Laura.  She was holding a cardboard sign asking for help outside of Walmart.  When I was driving by the Holy Spirit gave me instruction to do something concerning her.  I was to make a sign and write John 3:16 on it and go to where Laura was standing the next morning at 10:00 am.  After I had been there for about five minutes she came over to stand with me.  As we talked she confided in me that she was the daughter of a Baptist minister.  She also told me that she lived with a man who had several girls working "the beat" for him in exchange for food and shelter.

I told her that God had told me to come and see her.  She said her father was too strict and she wanted to be out on her own.  She worked part time at McDonald's and then in the mornings she worked for this man.  She had no car so he took her to work and the place where she was to stand.  I told her that she must be very special if God wanted me to come and see her.  About an hour later the "man" showed up to get her and she told him she wasn't going with him.  He was very upset and gave me a hateful look as he drove off that I will never forget.

I don't know what became of Laura, but I know God did something in that young girl! I hope that she went back home to her parents.  Oh, the power of the Holy Spirit!

Character

Why are sweet memories so important?  I'm old now and they keep me warm on a cold winter's night.  Good memories build character.  Combining God's Word and sweet memories result in a child of God who will someday know that his Heavenly Father is loving. So many today find it difficult to relate to Him as loving.  This is a real dilemma for the Christian.  It hinders his walk in the faith and stunts his growth in his relation to God as his Heavenly Father.  How can we pass down the Father's love and power if we cannot relate to Him ourselves?

Most of us had fathers who were not loving and some of us had no father at all our lives. How can we get to know our Father in heaven?  Jesus said if we had seen him we had seen the Father in Heaven.  (John 14:7)  When we study the character of Jesus we see a compassionate Lord toward His people.  Our Heavenly Father is compassionate to His own and even in this life to those who will never know Him.  He is a compass of compassion. He is even loving in His discipline toward His children.

The Cross of Calvary is spelled "Compassionate".  This is how I see my Heavenly Father.

One Brownie

After much thought it behooves me to warn people about eating too much white flour and too much sugar.  Sounds simple I know, but in all reality these are the two killers among us in the Church today!  Our bodies are created by the living God and we are not to abuse them.(I Corinthians 6: 19-20). This article will address the Body of Christ.  There are some illnesses we cannot control, but most of them we can.

Heart disease and type 2 diabetes are illnesses brought on ourselves.  Today we are a "fast" generation and it is killing us!  Are we not warned in God's Word that if we are given to appetite then we should put a knife to our throats? (Proverbs 23:2).  I know you have heard this over and over about eating habits, but have we looked at it through God's Word?  Will over eating send you to hell?  No, but do you really want to leave your family so soon? I'm not a health food fanatic, but it is heavy on my heart that our children are so obese and some will even die from it!

When we go to a fast food place on a regular basis we do harm to ourselves. The Word tells us to do everything in "Moderation"!  There is an old saying, "It is alright to eat one brownie, but not the whole pan". 

May God help us to take care of our bodies so that we might serve the Lord with energy and have a good testimony to the world.  When you see an obese preacher, what is your first thought?  Oh, God deliver us from an ungodly appetite in the name of Jesus Christ!  Give us strength to do it Lord! Amen. 

500

In the spring of 1970 my heart became burdened about abortion.  I had received some information from Knights of Columbus and what I saw broke me into tears.  After all this time God has reminded me of something that is very important.  At that time the law in Missouri was abortion could only be done if the life of the Mother was in danger.  In this information sent to me I learned that there was an organization called the ACLU who would soon be coming up against the US Senate to legalize abortion.  

In the information I got from Knights of Columbus it said that if every "district" in the United States had only 500 signatures on a legal petition then they could win the fight against this group who wanted abortion on demand.  I went to a local lawyer and he was pro-life so he gladly drew up a petition for me costing only $5.00.  They were placed inside Churches and I went door to door for signatures.  A week later I went to pick up the petitions from Churches.  There was a total of eleven signatures!!  Disappointment could not have covered what I was feeling at that time.  The pastor of one Church was embarrassed and told me that he was sorry, but people were comfortable with the present law in Missouri.  How did my effort turn out going door to door?  I got two signatures.  One woman told me that her son had turned out to be a homosexual and she wished he had never been born!

What if every Church in the United States would sign this petition?  It would over turn Roe vs Wade, but you know I'm wondering if there would be anymore signatures today than back then?  Of course, we know that abortion on demand was legalized on January 22, 1973.  There are lots of petitions online, every time you see one please take the time to sign it.  

Thank you and May God stop the insanity of killing unborn human beings!

100 Years

Remembered an awesome thought today that gave me some real peace.  I have been fussing and fretting about some things in my life.  It came to me, "what will matter 100 years from now"?  We can get so wrapped up in the problems of this life that we tend to shut out what is really important!  There are three things people are consumed with daily: Will I have enough money to pay the bills this month?  Will I get cancer?  How can I make my life better?

Many years ago while we were having dinner with a friend, I was distressed about the price of gasoline.  He smiled and said, "Will it matter 100 years from now?"  I guess you could have hit me between the eyes with a big stick!  What will matter, really?  Eternity with Christ equals "peace"!  The pain I have today, those relationships that have gone bad, or trying to make the world a better place was suddenly of no great importance anymore.  We must remind ourselves that this life is "temporary".

Psalm 90:12

New International Version (NIV)

12 Teach us to number our days,
    that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

Sold!

The Pastor said, "If any of you have a financial need this morning, feel free to take from the collection plate".  I think I heard everyone in the room cringe, including myself.  This would mean that the first giver would get nothing and the last giver could get it all.  As it was passed around I saw only one person take from the plate.

LD Sowder is gone now, but he probably put on one of the best demonstrations of "pride" done in a church thirty years ago!  It called for the whole Church to trust God with their money.  In Acts 4:34 it says, "There was not a needy person among them, for qas many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and rlaid it at the apostles’ feet, andsit was distributed to each as any had need".

"Whosoever"

Some people will manipulate the Greek language to do their best to explain the word "whosoever" in John 3:16 to fit their beliefs about salvation.  This word is not "Past Tense"!  It is Present Tense!  "Today is the day of salvation" 2 Corinthians 6:2.  Past tense would imply that it means "everyone who has already been chosen who believe".  I had to take a step back and look at where I was spiritually.

I have always believed that the elect exists, but not quite the way this person does.  Theology has brought me down and trying to figure out why God does things the way He does!  I'm going back to my belief that God knew who would be saved before the foundations of the world were laid (Ephesians 1:4).  I do not believe that God would create people to go to hell.  I recognize the truth of needing to be born again in John 3:7.   I do not believe that everyone outside the belief of Calvinism is going to hell.  

I'm tired of those who suggest that you must be a Calvinist or you are damned to hell.  My God is not small enough to put Him in a little box of beliefs such as these and tie the string. Then put a great big stamp on the settled belief that the world be damned all to hell who doesn't help tie the bow!  This is not My God.  Jesus gave His life for the world and "whosoever" believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.  (John 3:16).