What does it take for you?

The story is told about an angel walking down the street of Old Jerusalem with a torch in his right hand and a bucket of water in his left hand. Another angel saw him and asks, “What are you going to do with that fire and water?”  The first angel replied, “With the fire, I’m going to burn down the mansions of heaven, and with the bucket of water, I’m going to put out the fires of hell. Then we’ll see who really loves God.”

What a thought! Do you have to have hell scared out of you or the promise of golden streets to make you love God? Is it enough for you to love and praise God simply because God is God. Is it enough to love God as the creator of the universe, including the good earth we live on. What does it take for you to really love God?

God has expressed love for us many times but never forces us to love in return. But our love is what God desires from us. For that love to be real it must be freely felt and given. To be in love with God can be the most exhilarating feeling one can have. Sadly to few people feel the full effects of that kind of relationship and their lives suffer from the lack of it. Do you truly love God? How do you express you love for God? Does your love flow from a heart filled with joy because of God’s great gift of His son Jesus?

Let your love flow freely and enjoy its power to lift you up.

My Dear Mother

I have been thinking about my recent visit with my mother in Texas. She has changed since I was with her for her 90^th birthday last spring. It is a very noticeable change and not for the better. Many mini strokes over the years had already robbed her of the ability to make new memories but she always knew who I was and was with the moment.

This past year she broke her hip and spent time in the hospital and has been in decline ever since. She looks very frail and is no longer in the moment or knows who I am. We just go with the flow of her conversation of what ever moment she is in and enjoy being with her. I am so thankful for the care my sister Jeannie gives her.

My mother was always a rock of faith and love for me and my siblings. Because of her I am the man I am today able to live and be at peace with God. I know that her great faith is still with her and even though she is nearing the last of her days with us that she will be in the arms of God forever. I am at peace with that and honor her life as a woman of Proverbs 31.

I love you mom.

Epiphany

Today Sunday January 6th is EPIPHANY! This is the day in the Western Church when we celebrate the arrival of the "Wise Men" and end the Christmas season.

Today is also Christmas in the Eastern Church, actually it was at one time Christmas in the whole church but Rome changed it to December 25th to coincide with the Winter solstice celebrations in Rome. They could not get rid of the pagan celebration so they changed the meaning of the day and changed January 6th to Epiphany and the coming of the wise men to see Jesus.

So Happy Epiphany to my western friends and Merry Christmas to my eastern friends.

RACK

Lately I have noticed a rash of strange and wonderful things happening around the church that I call RACK.  You are wondering, “What on earth is he talking about?”  

RACK stand for Random Acts of Christian Kindness. 

It is simply church members going around doing nice things for each other anonymously.

It is fun and easy to do a RACK.  Slip an unsigned note of appreciation under a door or mail it. You can do a small gift the same way. The great thing is that you can be inventive and have a lot of fun watching the results as the person gifted tries to figure out who did this. We must be careful though, as RACK’s are contagious. The person who gets RACKed will start doing it and you may wind up being RACKed yourself. As you know what goes around comes around and that works for good things too

As you might guess, I want to encourage this rash of Random Acts of Christian Kindness. It is fun and easy and best of all it does not have to cost very much money. Your greatest cost is found in the time that it takes to plan your RACK.    Make 2013 your year of committing RACK!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year and may God Bless you in every way in 2013

Generations

I visited my mom in the nursing home today and noticed the decline in her health after recovering from a broken hip. I had expected it but actually seeing it got to me. Humanity lives from one generation to the next so I will soon find myself the oldest generation of my family. That gives me a new perspective on the subject.

How does each generation collect the best of the previous generation and pass it on to the next? The challenge is for me to take all that my mother gave me and make sure my darling daughters grasp the importance of it for their own lives?

I span two generations and am the key between them. God help me!

My Christmas Baby

My youngest daughter Larua Lea was born sixty seconds before mid-night on December 24^th. She was so very close to being a Christmas baby and what a joy she was to behold.

I use to worry that she felt cheated by the fact that many times she received combination birthday/Christmas gifts. So we planned every summer a halfway party for her to correct that supposed problem. Later the adult Laura told me that she grew up thinking it was so wonderful that the whole world threw a party on her birthday. My Christmas baby has always had an interesting way of looking at the world.

Laura Lea was my best Christmas present