If you're a gardener or a florist, you're probably pretty angry by this sudden change in the weather. We're supposed to be having moderately cool temperatures and rainy days, not snow and cold! I bet some of your plants had already started growing. Signs of spring in an otherwise bland landscape. Some of our flowers had just started blooming and then the snow hit. We also had other flowers with just the first hint of growth coming out of the ground. I wonder if they'll be strong enough to withstand the cold?
Have you ever planted a seed or a bulb, and watched its transformation as the days and weeks progressed? At first, nothing much seems to happen, the seed is planted, but the dirt is free of any seedlings. Then, one day you look and voila! a small bright spot of green has appeared out of the darkness and each day, that green gets taller and stronger and continues to grow. The darkness become smaller and smaller as the young flower starts to take hold and spread its joy all around. It's crucial in the beginning stages of a new plant to carefully tend it to see that it gets what it needs - water, food, love. (It's okay to talk to your seedling, really! They like it!!!) And don't think that after your seedling has become a beautiful flower that it doesn't need water, food, and love (and talking to). It does. As it grows, it needs nourishment, fulfillment. It needs You. As we celebrate this wonderful Easter Season, don't think for one minute that God doesn't need you. Let yourself be the seed, be planted, watered, fed and loved with His love and grace. Let God talk to you when you don't think you need it, and especially when you do. And when you feel yourself growing in His love, don't stop listening! Let Him continue to feed you with all that He has to offer. Let yourself grow into a beautiful flower and spread your seeds of love to others around you so they may know God's love as well. This Easter Season, let yourself grow into the beautiful flower that's inside of you...
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Thursday, March 15, 2007
I have a CONFESSION...
I have a CONFESSION to make - I AM A CHOCOHOLIC!! Phew! I feel so much better now to get that off my chest! Not a day goes by that I don't have some kind of chocolate. I'm not talking that white chocolate either. Oh no, it's got to be milk chocolate or dark chocolate. White just doesn't cut it. I usually have a chocolate pop-tart for breakfast - chocolate fudge or S'mores or chocolate chip. I just picked up a new flavor yesterday - Hot Chocolate! Can you imagine? A Hot Chocolate flavored pop-tart??? What will they think of next!
Seriously though, it's not always easy to CONFESS about something you're addicted to, or something you've done. It's especially not easy to CONFESS in public, or to a stranger. It's even harder to CONFESS to a friend. But that's what we must do when we do something wrong, CONFESS to GOD. He will forgive us. He forgave us when Christ died for us on the cross. Remember that NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO, God will forgive you. You only need CONFESS to Him and ask Him to forgive you. He loves you, NO MATTER WHAT.
Seriously though, it's not always easy to CONFESS about something you're addicted to, or something you've done. It's especially not easy to CONFESS in public, or to a stranger. It's even harder to CONFESS to a friend. But that's what we must do when we do something wrong, CONFESS to GOD. He will forgive us. He forgave us when Christ died for us on the cross. Remember that NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO, God will forgive you. You only need CONFESS to Him and ask Him to forgive you. He loves you, NO MATTER WHAT.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Thirsting for God
"I don’t need a lot of things, I can get by with nothing. Of all the blessings life can bring, I’ve always needed something. But I’ve got all I want, when it comes to loving you. You’re my only reason, You’re my only truth.
I need you like water, like breath, like rain. I need you like mercy fom heaven’s gate. There’s a freedom in your arms that carries me through. I need you. You’re the hope that moves me to courage again. You’re the love that rescues me when the cold winds rage and it’s so amazing, ’cause that’s just how you are and I can’t turn back now, ’cause you’ve brought me too far.
I thought of this song last night while thinking about what to write for this week's message. The theme is "Thirsting for God" as we continue on our series of Prayer. When I thought about the lyrics, I thought they made perfect sense with what we should be thinking and wanting in our everyday lives - to be "needing You". You for me, means needing God. Insert "God" wherever it says "You" in the song, and you'll see what I mean. It's pretty powerful. "I need God like water, like breath, like rain. There is a freedom in God's arms that carries me through. I need God." WOW! To understand and recognize that need, to know that God should be what we are thirsting for when we are dry and parched. When our stomachs and our souls are empty. Let God quench your thirst. Let Him fill you up with His glory. Let Him be the piece that is missing from your puzzled life...
I need you like water, like breath, like rain. I need you like mercy fom heaven’s gate. There’s a freedom in your arms that carries me through. I need you. You’re the hope that moves me to courage again. You’re the love that rescues me when the cold winds rage and it’s so amazing, ’cause that’s just how you are and I can’t turn back now, ’cause you’ve brought me too far.
I thought of this song last night while thinking about what to write for this week's message. The theme is "Thirsting for God" as we continue on our series of Prayer. When I thought about the lyrics, I thought they made perfect sense with what we should be thinking and wanting in our everyday lives - to be "needing You". You for me, means needing God. Insert "God" wherever it says "You" in the song, and you'll see what I mean. It's pretty powerful. "I need God like water, like breath, like rain. There is a freedom in God's arms that carries me through. I need God." WOW! To understand and recognize that need, to know that God should be what we are thirsting for when we are dry and parched. When our stomachs and our souls are empty. Let God quench your thirst. Let Him fill you up with His glory. Let Him be the piece that is missing from your puzzled life...
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Go to God first
"Dear Lord, I don't know why I'm coming to you now, but there is no other hope in my life, and I thought maybe if I talked to You, You might hear my pleas of help and do something to change my life. I've gotten myself into a lot of trouble, Lord, and I don't know what to do. My children are angry with me, my spouse wants a divorce, our house is near foreclosure, and I just don't know what to do with my life. I think I'm going to lose my job and then what will I do? We can barely support ourselves today with 2 incomes, much less 1. Lord, help me. I don't know how to do this prayer thing, but I'm asking for Your help now. Please, I beg of you, help me..."
Have you found yourself or know of someone, that turns to God as a last resort? Instead of going to Him first, they think they can handle everything by themselves and work out their problems on their own. That's just NOT the case! God is there for us anytime we call. He may not always answer you with words you want to hear, or at the moment you think you need it most, but He will answer you. He hears your cries for help. He hears your despair, feels your joy and collects your tears. Don't go to God when all the chips are down, GO TO GOD FIRST and share with Him all your feelings - happiness and sorrow, RIGHT NOW. Don't wait, don't hold back. God should be the first priority in your life, not the last resort.
Have you found yourself or know of someone, that turns to God as a last resort? Instead of going to Him first, they think they can handle everything by themselves and work out their problems on their own. That's just NOT the case! God is there for us anytime we call. He may not always answer you with words you want to hear, or at the moment you think you need it most, but He will answer you. He hears your cries for help. He hears your despair, feels your joy and collects your tears. Don't go to God when all the chips are down, GO TO GOD FIRST and share with Him all your feelings - happiness and sorrow, RIGHT NOW. Don't wait, don't hold back. God should be the first priority in your life, not the last resort.
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Amazing Grace
Ten Amazing Facts about Amazing Grace
1) The words were written by a reformed British slave trader turned Anglican minister, John Newton, who wrote it to accompany a New Year’s Day church service in 1773.
2) Amazing Grace is the most covered song in history. Over 3200 different recordings exist.
3) The tune we now associate with Amazing Grace wasn’t matched to the words until 1835 in William Walker’s Southern Harmony. Until then it was set to a variety of tunes.
4) The final stanza—‘When we’ve been there ten thousand years’—was added by Edwin Othello Excell in 1909 and was taken from another hymn.
5) Amazing Grace is considered to be the anthem of the Cherokee Nation because the song was sung on the Trail of Tears during 1838-39.
6) The first gospel recording of Amazing Grace was made in 1926 by Rev. H. R. Tomlin.
7) Most of the recordings of Amazing Grace have been made since Judy Collins had a surprise pop hit with the song in 1971.
8) A survey of British teenagers in the mid-1970s found that the majority thought that Amazing Grace was a love song about a girl named Grace.
9) The popular bagpipe version recorded by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards was based on the hit version by Judy Collins and was only added to an album as an afterthought. Later released as a single, it became a huge international hit.
10) Amazing Grace was sung as the funerals of Richard Nixon, Sonny Bono, Barry Goldwater, Joe DiMaggio and John Kennedy Jr.
This is Amazing Grace Sunday and on this day, we are reminded to:
** praise God for the abolition of the slave trade 200 years ago
** pray for the remaining work of racial healing and equality
** pledge to free the men, women, and children still enslaved today
1) The words were written by a reformed British slave trader turned Anglican minister, John Newton, who wrote it to accompany a New Year’s Day church service in 1773.
2) Amazing Grace is the most covered song in history. Over 3200 different recordings exist.
3) The tune we now associate with Amazing Grace wasn’t matched to the words until 1835 in William Walker’s Southern Harmony. Until then it was set to a variety of tunes.
4) The final stanza—‘When we’ve been there ten thousand years’—was added by Edwin Othello Excell in 1909 and was taken from another hymn.
5) Amazing Grace is considered to be the anthem of the Cherokee Nation because the song was sung on the Trail of Tears during 1838-39.
6) The first gospel recording of Amazing Grace was made in 1926 by Rev. H. R. Tomlin.
7) Most of the recordings of Amazing Grace have been made since Judy Collins had a surprise pop hit with the song in 1971.
8) A survey of British teenagers in the mid-1970s found that the majority thought that Amazing Grace was a love song about a girl named Grace.
9) The popular bagpipe version recorded by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards was based on the hit version by Judy Collins and was only added to an album as an afterthought. Later released as a single, it became a huge international hit.
10) Amazing Grace was sung as the funerals of Richard Nixon, Sonny Bono, Barry Goldwater, Joe DiMaggio and John Kennedy Jr.
This is Amazing Grace Sunday and on this day, we are reminded to:
** praise God for the abolition of the slave trade 200 years ago
** pray for the remaining work of racial healing and equality
** pledge to free the men, women, and children still enslaved today
Thursday, February 8, 2007
It's all about LOVE
How many LOVE letters have you received in your life? How many LOVE letters have you written? Have you ever received a letter from God? Have you felt His presence surrounding you when you're feeling down? Have you felt His arms wrap around you in the highlights of your life, saying, "You are Worthy of this and so much more"? Have you sat down to read His word, and feel the LOVE in the words that are before you? Do you know that God LOVES you? Do you know how much God LOVES you? Do you know that you are WORTHY of God's LOVE every day of your life? When you're feeling down, take a moment to tell yourself that God LOVES you and you are WORTHY of His LOVE and grace. Your life has WORTH, your LOVE has meaning, and giving yourself to God is such a small thing to do to show your LOVE for HIM.
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