OUT OF FOCUS

OUT OF FOCUS

I am not young, spry, strong, stable, and smart like you.

The photo above was taken hand held.

The photo below was taken with the same camera.  Of

the same object, in the same light, only a couple of 

minutes earlier.  BUT,  on a tripod.

THE DIFFERENCE IS HOLDING STILL.

Life is like that.

I know a "person" [Perhaps several] like that.  This 

person will not hold still long enough to truly hear.

Oh, this "person" says "Go on talking, I'm listening."

BUT,  latter it comes out that person did not hear 

what I was saying.  What this person was clearly

told, was totally unknown to them later.

Are we like that with life?

So engrossed with what we are doing, or want to

do, that we do not know where we are going?

God said;

"Be still, and know that I am God."

(Psalms 46:10 RSV)

"Be still before the Lord, and wait

patiently for him;"

.......

"Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil."

(Psalms 37:7 and 8 RSV)

Have you taken time to hold still and 

take stock of yourself to see where your

life is taking you??

SO YOU ARE WISE!

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So you are wise and act wisely.

How do you define wise?

What is wise to you?

Does you opinion of "wise" match up with

God's opinion of wise.  God, you know, the

one who gives you life and breath.  The one

we will all answer to when we pass on from

this life.

Consider God's opinion of wise

.

"The Lord looks down from heaven

upon the children of men, to see if

there are any that act wisely,

that seek after God."

(Psalms 14:2 RSV)

TRUE VALUE

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Yesterday I learned something about values.

Being a retired auto mechanic I wanted something

to do that I could enjoy doing, and perhaps make 

a little extra income.  So for a few years I have 

been planning on opening up a small engine repair

shop.

I began to collect some chain saws, weed eaters,

tools, etc.  Plus gained a lot of experience with

this little "critters".  Of course all of these needed

repair.  The idea was to repair and resell them as

well as repair other peoples small engine problems.

You know how life is though.

Things do not always go as planned.

I will not go to the trouble to explain this.

BUT,  God begin to deal with me over this

issue.  That was not the direction He wanted

me to go.  In addition,  He wanted me to sell

this things.  Get them out of the way and

change my course of direction.  They were

to no longer be a thing of value for me.  Get

rid of them, all of them.

So, yesterday was the day I took them to the

sale.  I had a small truck load of used chain

saws, weed eaters and small engines.  I knew

the value of these things.  Well, at least the

potential value.  I was hoping to regain some of

the monies I had put out on them.

Do you know other people do not have the

same values I do?

The check I got for this entire truck load

of "good stuff" was enough to pay for my

gas over to the sale and back.

WHAT'S THE POINT.

Our values are not always the same as "real life".

And our life and values may not match up to reality.

God said;

"The things that most people think

are important are worthless as far

as God is concerned."

(Luke 16:15 CEV)

When that day comes and you die stepping out

into the "great forever", is it going to be after

a life of chasing your values?  Or God's values 

whom you will come to face to face with.?

THE HEALER OF BROKEN HEARTS

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Life hurts.  If you have not found that out,  you have not

lived very long yet.  Some hurts or pains are minor.  You

know, you pinch your little "pinky".  But mommy's kiss

fixes it.  Then there are hurts and pains that will send you

to the doctor.  Usually some medication and time fixes

those.

  Then, there are hurts and pains that go really

deep.  The kind that mommy nor the doctor can

repair.  The "shrink" (psychologist), the bottle, nor 

the pill can fix.  Often we cannot even share them 

with our best friends.  And if we could, they really 

could not do anything to help.  We call them a

"broken heart".

The "broken heart" might be the cause of relationships,

physical conditions, circumstances or disappointments.

But a broken heart stills hurts.  Usually hurts worse

than any physical pain.  This is the kind of thing I am

talking about today.

And yes, there is a cure.  That is, if you are willing

to take it.

Let's start with some facts.

Contrary to popular belief - there is a God.

Literally millions of us know, experience or 

have a relationship with him.  He is more real 

to many of us than even our family members.

Then there are those who deny him.  They are

like someone you would hand a radio and say,

"Listen to the music."  But they would say,

"No.  There are no such things as "radio waves".

I cannot see them.  I cannot feel them.  And I

cannot taste them.  So, I am not going to turn

the silly radio on."

What they do not recognize is that God is in a

different dimension.  God is "Spirit".  And God

created the "material".  And in the material man,

God put a spiritual dimension that can tune in to

God.

The thing that we are really interested in today

is that,

"He heals the broken hearted, 

and binds up their wounds."

(Psalms 147:3 RSV)

Our purpose now is not to define God or how 

he works.  If we could, he would be no more 

than we are.  But his word "The Holy Scriptures"

or "The Holy Bible" tells us that the one who

created us, loved us (you and me) enough that

he came down and became a man.  Then in love

for us offered himself up as a sacrifice for our

sins, if we will accept that sacrifice for our selves.

God speaking through the prophets of old told 

us that Jesus Christ was coming and what his 

mission was to be.

We could say that this is the very mission statement

of Jesus Christ himself;

"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord 

has anointed me to bring good tidings to the afflicted,

he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim

liberty to the captives,  and the opening of the prison to

those who are bound; to proclaim the year of the Lord's

favor, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort

all who mourn;

to grant to those who mourn in Zion - to give them a

garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead

of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint

spirit;...."

(Isaiah 61:1-3 RSV)

  A fact.

"The Lord is near to the broken hearted,

and saves the crushed in spirit."

(Psalms 34:18 RSV)

Look at his invitation.

"Come to me, all who labor and

are heavy laden, and I will give

you rest.  Take my yoke upon

you, and learn from me; for

I am gentle and lowly in heart,

and you will find rest for your 

souls.  For my yoke is easy,

and my burden is light."

(Matthew 11:26-30 RSV)

Christ wants to come in and mend 

your broken heart.  But how?

"... because, if you confess with your  lips

that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart

that God raised him from the dead, you will

be saved.  For man believes with his heart and

so is justified, and he confess with his lips and 

so is saved.  (Romans 10:9,10 RSV)

Do not try to fool or con God.

It's impossible.  He knows you better than 

you yourself do.  So;

  

simply recognize that God came down to earth

as a man named Jesus Christ to die for your sins.

Then call out to him confusing your sins or 

failures to him.  How loud or low a whisper 

does not matter.  He will hear you.  He even

knows your very thoughts.  Just be serious.

Ask him to come into your life and take over.

Let him take complete control of your life.

Then talk with him about that broken heart.

He will help "fix it".

THE COMMON DENOMINATOR

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Mark Twain

Simone de Beauvoir

Isaac Asimov

Marlene Dietrich

Frank Zappa

Madalyn Murray O'Hair

Douglas Adams

Katharine Hepburn

George Carlin

Alexander McQueen

Christopher Hitchens

And many others.

There are at least five common denominators

among this list:

1. They all were atheist.

2. They all are dead now.

3. They all know now there is a God.
4. They all know there is a devil's hell.

5.  It is too late for them now.

A CLOSER WALK WITH GOD

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Do you want a closer walk with God?

Most Christians I know want a closer walk with God.

And, most Christians I know relate it to a knowledge 

of God's word - The Holy Bible.  And that's very, very

important.

Frankly I am appalled at the lack of knowledge of the 

Bible by most Christians.  They would claim that it is 

the most important book in the world.  Yet it seems the 

only knowledge they have about spiritual things is only

the things they have heard some preacher preach.

BUT IS THAT THE PROBLEM?

Consider this.

Shortly after God created mankind, in about the 

sixth generation, was a man named Enoch.  Enoch

walked with God.  In fact, Enoch walked so close to

God that God decided to just take Enoch on up to 

heaven with him.  So, God "translated" Enoch to

himself.

But, Enoch did not have a Bible.

After a lot more years mankind had gotten so rotten

that God decided to just wipe them out.  But, there 

was one man who "walked" with God.  His name 

was Noah.  So God preserved the human race through

Noah, because Noah walked with God.

But, Noah did to have a Bible.

Years latter again there was a man who walked with

God.  His name was Abraham.  Abraham was known

as "The friend of God".  And God made a covenant 

with Abraham that resulted in a race of people we 

call "Jews".  Because Abraham walked with God.

But, Abraham did not have a Bible.

Many more years later another man named Elijah

walked with God.  Elijah walked so close to God 

during his life time that God sent a fiery chariot to 

take Elijah to heaven.

But, Elijah would have only had a few of the books

we call "The Old Testament" available to him.

My friend,

the problem is not how well we know the Scriptures.

The problem is in our want to.

We get what we want.  That is why you owe money

for some things that "you wanted."

When we WANT to walk closer with God bad enough,

then we will.

"But from there you will seek the

Lord your God, and you will find

him, if you search after him with

all your heart and with all your

soul."

(Deuteronomy 4:29 RSV)

SAFETY FIRST

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Do you know how blessed you are with so 

many government agencies to watch after

your health?  And of course the yellow pages

are full of people who want to do one thing

or the other to help you - for a price.

I grew up in the "West".  I guess it was

the wild west.  We had to do it ourselves

if we wanted it done.  And even worse,

there was no agency to tell us how to 

do it, or if we were allowed to do it at

all.  But, some how we did manage to 

survive.

After over eighty years of experience in 

living, I did not want it all to go to waste.

So, I decided to pass on some safety

hints on something that could help every

one.  

Not every one wants to raise rabbits,

garlic, or even repair their car.  So, I picked

on safety in finger nail care.  I have read

several times that even a dead person's 

nails and hair continue to grow for a period

of time after they die.  Now, I have not been

dead yet.  I have faced death, but God in his

mercy pulled me through it.  But safety in

finger nail care could benefit the dead and 

the living.

You have decided to tend to your finger nails.  So you 

have your nails dry and clean.  You have laid out your 

your nail clippers or manicure scissors and plan on 

properly cutting straight across, then rounding your nails

out.

BUT, but, but.

Have you checked with your doctor.

Why?  I don't know.  But like myself, you know that 

any health advice always ends with check with your doctor.

So, check with your doctor to see if you are healthy enough

to undertake this endeavor.

Then before you start, lay your clippers and emery board

out.  But do not use them until you have the proper safety

equipment on and in place.

You will need:

1.  A hard hat.  you never know when a clipped nail

can fly around and injure you.

2.  Saftey glasses.  same reason.

3. Steel toed boots.  When you are concentrating on

your nails you could easily step on you toes.

4. Last but not least, a good heavy pair of 

work gloves to protect you fingers while you

work on your nails.  Clippers and scissors

could be real hard on your little pinky if

miss guided.

One other thing that can be very helpful today.

No matter how you do it, some snowflake is 

going to be offended by the way you do it.

And you do not want to end up in court because

some one is offended.  You do not dare to offend

anyone in this day and age.  They are not mature

enough to handle life.

So plan on doing it while most other people are

asleep.  And safer yet would be to do it in 

the basement or perhaps hide in the attic.

Remember when you are done,

check with your doctor.

HELP IN TROUBLE

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"God is our shelter and strength,

always ready to help in times

of trouble.

"So we will not be afraid,

even if the earth is shaken

and mountains fall into

the ocean depths;

even if the seas roar and rage,

and the hills are shaken

by the violence."

"The Lord Almighty is with us;

the God of Jacob is our refuge."

(Psalms 46:1-3 & 11 GNT)

ONE MAN KILLED AN ARMY

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Back when Hezekiah was King of Judah, 

Sennacherib King of Assyria sent a great

army to invade Jerusalem.  

After many serious threats, in desperation

King Hezekiah went to God in prayer.

In response God said through the prophet,

"Because you have prayed to Me against

Sennacherib king of Assyria,..."

(Isaiah 37:21 NKJV)

Note that: "Because you.."  You was one

man named Hezekiah.

This one man prayed and God sent out an

angle that night who killed 185,000 Assyrian

soldiers in their camp.

Do you have a problem?

Have you thought about taking it to

the one who can do something about it -

God himself.