Faith is ...

A popular cartoon series a few years back featured a boy and a girl under the title "LOVE IS..."  and then it would have underneath something witty like, "Giving her a single red rose for no reason."  There were many versions of what Love Is. Like love, faith has many aspects to consider. The writer of Hebrews wrote that "Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."  We often struggle with our faith, to know what it is and trying to find ways of expressing it. To find faith is to struggle with life, its meaning, and our relationship with God.

Often our faith moments that should be high points disappoint us. We don’t live up to our own self-image, let alone meet what others want from us. Expectations and reality conflict.  

Quick & Slow?

James 1:19  "You must understand this, my beloved, let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger."

Our time is our life and yet we spend so much of it focused on things that sap our energy and crush our spirits. So many people only half listen to what others are saying and thinking that we have hearing something we disagree with we lash out. Doing that we are slow to listen and quick to react.

In doing so we lose life's many blessings that slip by unnoticed as our anger clouds our vision and our hearing.  Every moment of our lives are precious gifts that need to be savored and enjoyed. To waste them in needless anger robs us of love, relationships and joy. Taking the time to really listen to those around us is worth the effort and may reveal some wonderful blessings.

Be Quick to Listen! Be Slow to anger! Be even slower to speak out! When you do speak make your first words a positive affirmation of the person you are with then offer a corrections if needed and end with another positive word of praise. God gave us two ears and one tongue so listen twice as much as you speak.

A Voice From Above

A pastor asked a member of the church to fix some wiring in the sanctuary. The only way to work on it was to enter a small crawl space over the ceiling and balance on the rafters.

His wife was concerned that it was a very dangerous thing to do and insisted on coming along to make sure he was safe. She sat in the pew while he went up to the second floor and entered the crawl space access over the sanctuary ceiling. While she waited in the pew with eyes glued to the ceiling a small group of women entered the sanctuary to replace the flowers. They assumed she was praying and left her alone.

After a time they heard her yell up to the ceiling, "Henry, are you up there? Did you make it OK?"

There was quite an outburst from the other ladies when they heard Henry's loud voice echo down, "Yes honey I made it just fine and I am OK."

Never Mess With Old People

An 80 year old man was going up to bed, when his wife told him that he'd left the light  on in the garden shed, which she could see from the bedroom window. He opened the back door to go turn off the light, but saw that there were people in the shed stealing things.

 He phoned the police, who asked 'Is someone in your house?' He said 'No.' Then they said 'All patrols were busy. You should lock your doors and an officer will be along when one is available.' He said, 'Okay'. 

He hung up the phone and counted to 30. Then he phoned the police again. 'Hello, I just called you a few seconds ago because there were people stealing things from my shed. Well, you don't have to worry about them now because I just shot them.' and hung up. 

Within five minutes, six Police Cars, a SWAT Team, a Helicopter, two Fire Trucks, a Paramedic, and an Ambulance showed up at the Phillips' residence, and caught the burglars red-handed. One of the Policemen said, 'I thought you said that you shot them!' 

The old man said, 'I thought you said there was nobody available!' 

  I LOVE IT! Don't mess with old people! 

Forgetfulness

It is very frustrating when a word, phrase or a name will not come to mind. It drives me crazy when something I know very well simply will not pop into my mind. Then ten minutes after I needed it bang there it is. Sometimes it is only when we quite trying to remember that the illusive bit of information shows up in our gray matter.

The other thing that drives me crazy is going down stairs to look for something and winding up diverted and forgetting what I was looking for in the first place. That happens way too often.

It is considered a human shortcoming to be forgetful. There are times when forgetting is useful and needed. In Hebrews 8:12 God is quotes as saying "For I will be merciful toward their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more." That God would voluntarily forget our forgiven sins is love beyond human comprehension.

Jesus Love Me for Seniors

JESUS LOVES ME FOR SENIORS

Jesus loves me, this I know,
Though my hair is white as snow
Though my sight is growing dim,
Still He bids me trust in Him.

(CHORUS)
YES, JESUS LOVES ME.. YES, JESUS LOVES ME..
YES, JESUS LOVES ME, FOR THE BIBLE TELLS ME SO.

Though my steps are oh, so slow,
With my hand in His I'll go
On through life, let come what may,
He'll be there to lead the way.

(CHORUS)

When the nights are dark and long,
In my heart He puts a song..
Telling me in words so clear,
"Have no fear, for I am near."

 (CHORUS)

When my work on earth is done,
And life's victories have been won.
He will take me home above,
Then I'll understand His love.

(CHORUS)

I love Jesus, does He know?
Have I ever told Him so?
Jesus loves to hear me say,
That I love Him every day.
 (CHORUS)

If Only They Would Listen To Me

Raising a teenage daughter changed my perspective on how God relates to us. She was at the age where dad didn't know anything, she knew everything and was angry that I didn't let her have her way. If I said one thing she did the other and it made for a very difficult time for both of us. Many times I told her that if she would only listen to me her life would be a lot easier!

Reading through the Book of Judges in the Bible I read the words, "They did what was evil in the sight of God." over and over again. I can imagine that God thinks, "If they would only listen to me their lives would be a lot easier." If we did listen to God and live by the teachings of Jesus we could save ourselves a lot of pain and heartache.

I still learn that lesson for my self every day. Today is a day to love God, love others and get the word out.