Wouldn't it be wonderful if we were all Christians....everyone in the whole world?  At first the thought was calming and peaceful.... soothing. Then I thought of the fighting that goes on in church families, in Bible Study groups, in church organizations. I hate to say it but as wonderful as it would be if everyone were Christian, it would not eliminate harsh treatment, disrespectful attitudes, back-stabbing, and rumor-spreading.  There would be more forgiveness. There would be more love, service, assistance, caring. But we Christians still carry too much pride....pride that causes us to want things our own way at whatever the cost (because we don't take time to evaluate the true cost). But I still like the idea. Yes, other faiths would protest this notion as being hurtful and prideful, that it is arrogant to say ours is the only way to truly love and honor God and accept His offer of eternity in heaven. But we, Christians, aren't the ones who said it. Jesus did. So i...

Many of my readings today were from the book of Psalms. I wrote down several. I won't fill this post with all of them. Only with this one. Psalm 146:1-2 . Praise the LORD.        Praise the LORD, O my soul.  I will praise the LORD all my life;        I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. My thoughts today are that I need to repeat this and repeat this and repeat this. You know how sometimes you say things that you believe, even as you doubt?  Or maybe I should say, things you think but don't feel?  That's where I am today.  I do praise the Lord.  I do. I know He is worthy and He alone is worthy. I also know that I will praise God as long as I live. Just some days it is easier to praise God with gusto than other days. Another blogger today has a post that speaks to me.  The title of the post is Patience .  Her post isn't about me or anything I'm going through but it is, if ...

No post today.  Well, I guess this is one but not much of one. I lost my part time job yesterday for doing what I thought was the right thing to do. (I still think so.) So today I was free to babysit my grandson. His regular babysitter, his maternal grandmother, had a sick child (age 7) at her home (our grandson's aunt). They didn't want to expose our grandson to whatever was causing her fever.  My grandson was wonderful.  He played, laughed, slept, ate, climbed the stairs, played with the spring door-stop, growled - which as it turns out is the sound almost all animals make - and hugged on grandma. It was a very good day. So I don't have any scripture that I've had time to contemplate to formulate a post. I have read several verses and passages today. I am praying for several people and situations. But I haven't put together a post for my blog. One verse told me not to complain. Another verse told me that I need to trust God.  My passage for the Miracles Bible St...

Used by permission. Taken by Deanna Etienne. Another day. It is a glorious day. Sun is shining brightly. There is a wonderful breeze blowing. I can hear a wind chime tinkling.  An occasional car goes by. A dog somewhere in the neighborhood barks. If I listen closely, I can hear birds or crickets, maybe both. The world seems alright. Then I turn on the news, or read the headlines and find out all kinds of things that are not glorious and don't seem to fit with the day. Unemployment rates. Wild fires destroying forests and homes. Obituaries of young people. A friend with lung cancer. A rumor of a local serial sex attacker (which the police say is not true).  Greed of local officials - and who knows which is greedier. This can be very disturbing. Whatever shall we do? The answer is this: All of this is under God's sovereign control.  Psalm 16:8a says, "I have set the Lord always before me." That is how we reconcile both extremes in one glorious/inglorious ...

http://www.lambscapephotos.com/scripture_pictures.html Psalm 68.1 9 Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,        who daily bears our burdens. God bears our burdens every day. I had never thought of that. Jesus said that His yoke is easy. (Matt 11:30) But I never thought of Him wearing that yoke regardless if I'm yoked to Him or not. This passage in Psalm, sounds like He is carrying my burdens whether I know it or not. What should I do with that?  How amazing it is that I'm still trying to deal with things on my own! God is already bearing my concerns, issues, problems, frustrations, sins each day whether I know it or not.  Why would I even try to do it myself? He is certainly better equipped than I am to deal with things.  If I allow Him to take care of all problems, it frees me to only do those things that HE wants me to do, that He puts on my heart to handle. I don't have to try to work it into my schedule. God's got control of m...

Daniel 7 :7- 19... "After that, in my vision at night I looked, and there before me was a fourth beast....... I approached one of those standing there and asked him the true meaning of all this. So he told me and gave me the interpretation of these things: 'The four great beasts are four kingdoms that will rise from the earth........"Then I wanted to know the true meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others....." I've studied the book of Daniel before. From that I remember that there is a lot of prophecy - or perhaps a better word would be foretelling in Daniel, where there are statements made about things that will happen in the future (of when Daniel wrote it).   Some of those things foretold in Daniel have already come to pass, i.e. the fall of Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar living as an animal for a time before becoming sane again, etc. Some have not taken place yet.   Such is the above chapter in Daniel. I am not an expert on bib...

http://www.fwbcsavannah.com/WhatsNewInTheLibrary.html I know. That's not a title that you'd like to see. But as I read Daniel yesterday and again today, I see some things said of Daniel that I would like said of me.  Daniel 5:11-12 says this: ..... has the spirit of the holy god s in him...... he was found to have insight and intelligence and wisdom .... This man Daniel...was found to have a keen mind and knowledge and understanding, and also the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve difficult problems......" Daniel 6:4 says "....... tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct of government affairs, but they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent ." In one passage, the angel Gabriel appears to Daniel : "He instructed me and said to me, "Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. As soon...

In my dream, I'm about half way up from the water. I had a dream last night. I can't tell you much about it. I don't remember much. But it goes something like this...I have one foot dangling off the edge of a cliff. Interesting so far, huh? I am seated on the edge of that cliff with my other foot still on the cliff. I don't know if it is under me, or pointed out in front of me. I think it is in front but that doesn't make sense with the rest of the dream...... My left side is against the cliff wall to my left. It goes up a long way. I can't see how high from where I'm seated, only when I back up (looking at myself - it's a dream, you know) can I see how really high up the cliff is, both above me and below me. My right leg dangles high above whatever is below.  I can't tell but I THINK it is the ocean, or perhaps some body of water. You know how sometimes in a dream you just know things that aren't really part of the dream?  Well that's...

http://crosswordsforlife.com Psalm 34:7   I'll bet you never thought about that. An angel encamping around you....if you fear God. I hadn't thought about it.  If we love God, if we have a respect and awe of Him, his angels protect us. This must be where the idea of a guardian angel comes from, directly from the Bible.  How very comforting personally and for those I love. http://nadabs.tripod.com/prayers.htm Thank You, Sovereign God, for protecting those of us who love you all the time.   Amen

Psalm 85:13 Righteousness goes before him        and prepares the way for his steps. Righteousness is doing the right thing, at the right time.  Not after you've had time to evaluate the situation and then determine that it is ok to do the right thing. Righteousness is just doing what is right for the sake of doing right, regardless of the consequences. Going the extra mile, because it is the right thing to do. This verse in Psalm tells us that when we do right, when we practice righteousness, we are preparing the way for his steps. I know that if you think about this you can come up with some examples where you've seen this in action.  I just never stopped to think that I was preparing the way for HIS steps.  Righteousness does lead to clearing a path to someone's heart.  When we act righteously we knock down doors and walls of stubbornness, rigid minds of steel that don't allow for the unexplained, peace entering chaos, just from...

I heard a brief bit of a sermon on the radio today. It was about the trial of Jesus. I don't remember ever hearing a sermon of the crucifixion discussed this time of year. I didn't hear enough of the sermon to know which Gospel he used.  I don't know how he came up with what he said and I can't confirm it but it still made me think of something I'd never contemplated.  So I wanted to share it. Jesus was before Pilate. He was there before a man who didn't REALLY want to put Jesus to death, or have anything to do with him. Reading the text even makes it sound like Pilate wanted to let Jesus go. He offered to let someone go free.  He offered a choice between Jesus and Barabbas. We don't know enough of the story to know how Barabbas' name came up. We don't know if Pilate suggested Barabbas or if the crowd came up with Barabbas' name on their own (with the help of the Jewish religious rulers perhaps) as the one to release. This is an interesting i...

Earlier this week I woke up singing "Breathe on me Breath of God ". I don't know many of the words but know the tune, so I'd sing what I knew and hum the rest. I really have no clue why I had that song on my mind. We haven't sung it in church recently. I didn't spend much time trying to figure out why I woke with that tune on my mind.  I just hummed along until I was no longer humming it. http://www.jesusrministries.org/breath.htm Today, part of my reading included this verse from Job. In the middle of one of his discourses, he said " As long as I have life within me, the breath of God is in my nostrils." ( Job 27:3 ) I'm not sure if humming that song earlier this week, then reading this verse today has a connection for me or not. I'm not sure what the message might be. I'm not having any breathing problems. Maybe that's it. I haven't adequately thanked God for not having breathing problems and for having His breath in me. At l...

Colossians 4:2-6 (Message) Pray diligently. Stay alert, with your eyes wide open in gratitude. Don't forget to pray for us, that God will open doors for telling the mystery of Christ, even while I'm locked up in this jail. Pray that every time I open my mouth I'll be able to make Christ plain as day to them. Use your heads as you live and work among outsiders. Don't miss a trick. Make the most of every opportunity. Be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out.  This is part of a letter from Paul to the church at Colosse.   I don't know what was going on there.  I don't need to know that to get something from this passage for me now. The part I especially need to take note of is "Make the most of every opportunity.  Be gracious in your speech.  THE GOAL IS TO BRING OUT THE BEST IN OTHERS."  Much of the time a person's goal, whether they know it or not, is ...

Job 12:14-23 14 What he tears down cannot be rebuilt;        the man he imprisons cannot be released.   15 If he holds back the waters, there is drought;        if he lets them loose , they devastate the land.   16 To him belong strength and victory;        both deceived and deceiver are his.   17 He leads counselors away stripped        and makes fools of judges .   18 He takes off the shackles put on by kings        and ties a loincloth around their waist.   19 He leads priests away stripped        and overthrows men long established.   20 He silences the lips of trusted advisers        and takes away the discernment of elders.   21 He pours contempt on nobles        and disarms the migh...

September 11 is the anniversary of a day of great sorrow. Our shores were attacked. Innocent people were killed by people they'd never met. Other people committed the unspeakably horrible acts. People who had never been hurt themselves, hurt others for the sake of hurting them. God was present, or there would have been more people killed. I don't know why some died and others lived. But God does. I don't know why some committed these awful acts.  But God does. I can't make sense of it.  Thank God He can.   September 11 is also a wonderful day.  It is my grandson's birthday. There have been a lot of births on September 11, both before 2001 and since. We cannot take the wonderfulness of the date away from new parents and grandparents.  Just as we cannot take the awfulness away from those still grieving. It has turned into such a strange date.  Full of so many mixed feelings.  My neighbor's sister was in the World Trade Center when it was intentional...

Luke 8 :40 "Now when Jesus returned, a crowd welcomed him, for they were all expecting him." I wondered if Jesus had been in this community before. Perhaps on an earlier visit they did not welcome Him.  But since He'd done some healings and other wonderful things, NOW they welcomed Him. Or maybe they weren't prepared for a previous visit. Maybe they hadn't been expecting Him so there was no one to welcome Him. But THIS visit they were expecting Him, so they were ready and able to welcome Him. We should always be ready to welcome Jesus. We should expect Him in all kinds of situations and circumstances.  We should look for Him in the faces of others to expect to see His image, at least a glimpse of it.  We should look for Him in the places of pain and grief so that we can see and spread hope.  We should expect to see Jesus everywhere we go and everywhere we look.  We should expect to see Him so we can welcome Him, at all times, in all places, in all circumstance...

I participated in some kind of bible survey quite some time ago. I don't remember anything about the survey. The payback for participating arrived in my mailbox last week.  I received a copy of a new translation of the New Testament with a note that the complete translation will be available in 2011.  This new translation is called the Common English Bible (CEB).  It uses modern words and phrases to translate the original texts. It is hard to use a new translation.  We get used to certain wording of familiar phrases.  " Blessed are the poor in spirit " is what I'm used to.  (Mt 5:3) not " Happy are people who are downcast ". It will take some time to get used to this translation.  I may never fully accept it but I will enjoy parts of it for certain.  One thing I really like is that all phrases in the New Testament that are from the Old Testament are in italics with the OT passage noted in the footnotes. I like that. Anyway, the first thing I w...

Daniel has some of the most amazing stories in the Bible. They have very eye-popping visual images. This is one of those.  Chapter 3 tells of three people who were taken captive to Babylon where they (Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego) were commanded to bow down to the giant gold statue that Nebuchadnezzar had built. They were to bow to it.....or be thrown into the blazing furnace. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego would not..... something about the second commandment. ( Exodus 20:4-6 " You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments .) When confronted with death by blazing furnace, or life bowing to a gold statue, th...

I play this game on the computer . It's called Mahjongg Titans .  It is a game of tiles, where I have to uncover tiles by removing layers on top or next to other tiles by pairing them up (tile to same tile).  There doesn't seem to any real point to playing this game. I tell myself it's helping me learn to see things, details that I often miss.  When the game says there are matches left to make and I can't see them, I can hit the "H"int button and it shows me a pair.  Sometimes I feel so silly when I can't see the simplest, most obvious moves! Sometimes I become frustrated and play the same game over and over until I can win - even though there is no prize and no one knows when I've won but me.  Sometimes I'll get stuck, become frustrated and make repeated attempts to win then I leave the game for a while, like it will miss me and somehow let me win when I come back. Well, you know that doesn't happen. But what does happen is that after leavi...

My book is full. Almost exactly a year ago, I started writing down passages or verses of the Bible in my little wire-bound book on September 29, 2009.  The journal has a beautiful blue cover with a pair of yellow flowers. The cover says "He has made everything beautiful in its time". ( Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV)   That is only part of the verse but that is the way I've been writing passages.  Writing these down this past year has helped me remember where some passages are.  Now if someone references Jeremiah 29:11, I know what that verse is, even if I can't remember the whole, exact sentence. I've also grown in appreciation for the diversity of the Bible. There are poems, songs, stories, biographic tales, autobiographic entries, commands, comforts. There are cries for help, justice and pleas for mercy and grace. There are bits that we can't fully appreciate. For example, since we don't know the Hebrew alphabet that was used for a particular acrostic we can...